Review of Mumutaz murder probe revealed

Questions over the accounts given by colleagues of murder victim Shamsuddin Mahmood emerged soon after the 1994 killing.

An internal review of the Kirkwall murder probe conducted just weeks after the shocking crime reveals that an investigating officer “strongly” suspected “that the owner and staff of the restaurant have not been entirely truthful with the police.”

The officer recommended that a police interpreter be used to conduct further interviews with the staff at the Mumutaz Indian Restaurant, who consistently denied any knowledge as to why the brutal murder took place.

The findings of the independent review of the controversial investigation can now be revealed for the first time, after a two-year freedom of information battle with Police Scotland.

The Orcadian has attempted to contact the man who owned the Mumutaz but has thus far been unsuccessful.

The reports obtained by the newspaper describe a “thorough and comprehensive” probe by the then Northern Constabulary.

The reviewing officer would later add that he did not believe there was any unnecessary delay in building the case against schoolboy Michael Ross, who was later convicted of the killing at the High Court in Glasgow in 2008

For the full story, see the latest edition of The Orcadian in shops and online.