Ross refused Supreme Court hearing

An army sniper, jailed for life for gunning down waiter Shamsudden Mahmood in an Indian restaurant in Kirkwall, has been refused permission to take his case to the Supreme Court.

Appeal judges in Edinburgh today, Wednesday,  heard that Black Watch sergeant Michael Ross, 33, felt he had been treated unfairly by police investigating the Mumutaz Indian Restaurant murder in June, 1994.

Defence advocate Chris Shead said when they questioned Ross, who was 15 at the time, they did not take his age into consideration.

The use of evidence gleaned from the interviews might have made his trial, years later, unfair and breached his human rights, said the lawyer.

However, Lord Hamilton, sitting with Lords Carloway and Bonomy refused to sanction an approach to the higher court.

“We are not satisfied this is  a case in which we can grant leave to appeal to the Supreme Court,” he said.