'A shocking and sickening crime'

Det Insp Iain Smith, the senior investigating officer on the Shamsuddin Mahmood murder case, has given his reaction to the jury's verdict.

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Northern Constabulary welcomes the verdict of the jury and is pleased that Michael Ross has now been brought to justice for what was a shocking and sickening crime.

Det Insp Smith said the probe was one of the biggest carried out by the force

The reaction in Orkney to the murder of Shamsuddin Mahmood, a well liked and intelligent individual, was one of horror and disbelief.

Today's verdict is the culmination of one of the biggest ever inquiries launched by Northern Constabulary.

Officers carried out inquiries that stretched from Orkney to the Bangladeshi communities of London and Southampton.

A significant amount of excellent police work and effort went into investigating the new evidence in order to bring the case to trial.

Together with the cold case review this inquiry spanned 14 years and we are pleased to have been able to bring it to a successful conclusion.

There is reason to believe that this dreadful crime was racially motivated and I would like to take this opportunity to underline the force's commitment to tackling crimes of this nature.

Race related crime has been steadily falling across the force in the past few years, but the force will not be complacent and continue to treat racist incidents very seriously.

We hope that today's verdict is of some comfort to Shamsuddin's family who have had to live for nearly 15 years knowing that the person who murdered their loved one was still at large.