Historic whodunit back from the grave

Allan Breck Stewart was the main suspect (Image from National Archives of Scotland)

An unsolved murder which has become part of Scottish folklore is being laid open to public scrutiny - 250 years after a man was hanged for the crime.

The Appin murder shocked the country and was immortalised by writer Robert Louis Stevenson in his novel Kidnapped.

The case is seen as an important turning point in Scotland's history.

A cairn marks the place where the factor was shot (Picture by RM Gibson)

James Stewart's conviction as an accessory to the murder of Colin Campbell of Glenure is also widely regarded as a miscarriage of justice.

Members of the Stewart clan, historians and enthusiasts were gathering on Friday to mull over the historical whodunit at the launch of a new exhibition covering the case.

The National Archives of Scotland (NAS) is telling the story of the killing through contemporary letters and papers from the trial.

The murder took place six years after the battle of Culloden, when the Campbells were evicting Jacobites from their land on behalf of the government.

Colin Campbell, also known as Red Fox, was a government factor on the forfeited estate of Ardsheal. He was shot dead in May 1752 near Ballachulish while on official business.

Miscarriage of justice

The main suspect, Allan Breck Stewart, escaped to France.

James Stewart, the brother of the estate's former owner, was put on trial accused of being an accessory to the murder.

"It was a great miscarriage of justice," said archivist Rosemary Gibson, who has brought together the court documents for the first time in 50 years.

His bones were left to hang for over two years until they fell off and disintegrated

John Todd
Appin Murder Project

"James Stewart was tried in Inverary, which is the head of the Campbell heartlands.

"He was tried before a jury of 11 Campbells and the main judge at the trial was the Duke of Argyll, who was chief of Clan Campbell."

James of the Glen was convicted and sentenced to be hanged at Ballachulish.

John Todd, the co-ordinator of the Appin Murder Project, said Stewart was forced to climb the 30ft high gibbet in a howling gale and torrential rain on 8 November.

"His bones were left to hang for over two years until they fell off and disintegrated," said Mr Todd.

Jacobite uprising

"Even then the British Government was not finished with him.

"They ordered the bones to be rewired together and James' remains were hung again for a number of years, until gradually they fell off one by one."

Mr Todd said the government had been paranoid about the prospect of another Jacobite uprising.

"The severity of the treatment of James was really a means of keeping the clans under subjugation and allowing their eventual integration into the British state," he said.

James Stewart was sentenced to death (Image courtesy of the NAS)

"In a real sense it represented the turning point in the Highland history.

"You can argue that it was totally political. It was an act of state terrorism."

Many people were convinced that James Stewart was innocent, and even Glenure's relatives did not think James Stewart fired the fatal shot.

However, the identity of the killer remains a mystery.

Descendents of the Stewarts of Appin say that they know who was responsible - but no-one will talk.

The documents put on show by the NAS at the General Register House in Edinburgh include the description of Allan Breck issued to customs officers and James Stewart's death sentence.

The exhibition runs until 14 February next year and is accompanied by a virtual exhibition on the National Archives of Scotland website.