Reward offered over Orkney murder

Michael Ross was convicted of Shamsuddin Mahmood's murder

A reward of £100,000 for information about the murder of a waiter in an Orkney restaurant 14 years ago has been offered by an anonymous businessman.

Sgt Michael Ross, 30, was jailed for a minimum of 25 years for shooting Shamsuddin Mahmood in the head at close range in Kirkwall's Mumutaz restaurant.

An advert offering the reward for information about the 1994 murder appears in local paper The Orcadian.

In an interview, the businessman described the case as a "sham".

He was quoted saying he believed the reward would lead to the real killer - rather than Ross, of Inverness - being identified.

Protested innocence

The advert states: "A reward of up to £100,000 is hereby offered for information in connection with the murder of Shamduddin Mahmood with the Mumutaz Resraurant, Kirkwall, Orkney Islands, on 2nd June, 1994.

"I, the advertiser, wish to remain anonymous but believe there has been a miscarriage of justice in the conviction of Michael Ross.

"All information should be sent to Box No: C4504, The Orcadian, Kirkwall, and will be received in the strictest confidence."

The reward advert appeared in The Orcadian

Mr Mahmood, born in Bangladesh, was shot in full view of a room of diners by a masked gunman.

Ross, who became a Black Watch sniper, was found guilty of murder in June after a six-week trial at the High Court in Glasgow.

Judge Lord Hardie told him last month that it had been a "vicious, evil, unprovoked murder".

Defence QC Donald Findlay revealed that Ross continued to protest his innocence and said "everything will be done at his instruction in an attempt to clear his name".

Ross's father - police officer Eddie Ross, who was called to the scene of the shooting - was previously jailed for four years for trying to defeat the ends of justice.

The charge was that he withheld information from investigating officers over ammunition he found in his own home. It resembled the cartridge used to kill the waiter.

He later said of his son's conviction: "No-one in our family believed he was responsible for what he was accused of."