Murder was 'savage assassination'

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The case against a soldier accused of murdering a waiter is a compelling jigsaw, the prosecution has said.

In his closing speech, advocate depute Brian McConnachie QC said the evidence against Michael Ross, 29, was circumstantial but enough to convict.

He said it was "savage and pointless" and "a cold-blooded assassination".

Mr Ross denies shooting 26-year-old Shamsuddin Mahmood dead. Defence counsel Donald Findlay said Mr Ross had seen his character assassinated.

Mr McConnachie told the jury: "There is a compelling circumstantial case against Michael Ross.

"The pieces of evidence demonstrate beyond a shadow of doubt Michael Ross murdered Shamsuddin Mahmood.

"If, as I ask you to, you return a guilty verdict then 14 years later Michael Ross will be called to account for what he did. It has taken a long time, but to see justice done is better late than never."

'Never existed'

Mr Findlay asked the jury to look at the man in front of them, a father and serving army sergeant, and ask themselves if he could have committed a murder and then gone on to become the man he is today.

Mr Findlay compared the Crown's contention that there was a "compelling and unanswerable case" against Michael Ross to the government's claim about weapons of mass destruction in Saddam Hussein's Iraq.

He said: "Those who argued against were told that there was a compelling and unanswerable case.

"George Bush might have said: 'How many coincidences did we want'.

"In spite of all that there were no weapons of mass destruction. They never existed."

Special defence

Mr Ross, now of Inverness, is accused of entering the Mumutaz restaurant in Kirkwall, with his face masked and shooting Mr Mahmood in the head.

He is also accused of attempting to defeat the ends of justice by changing his clothing and disposing of the weapon.

The prosecution has withdrawn two additional charges of breach of the peace.

Mr Ross denies the charges and has lodged a special defence of alibi claiming he was nowhere near the Indian restaurant or Kirkwall town centre, but was cycling in another part of Orkney.

The trial, before Lord Hardie at the High Court in Glasgow, continues.