MICHAEL Ross managed to keep his dark secret for more than a decade.
The career soldier earned the respect of colleagues and army officers, was honoured for his bravery and even guarded the Queen.
What nobody knew was the war hero was a teenage murderer.
Ross was just 15 when he gunned down Shamsudden Mahmood, w
ho took up his job in Orkney after moving to the UK from Bangladesh. The motive for the shooting has never been explained, although police believe it may have been a race crime.
Ross was found to have Nazi memorabilia in his bedroom and fellow army cadets at the time said he once told them "blacks should be shot".
But according to a family friend, Ross had never met Mr Mahmood, who was known to have got on well with customers. Nor had he been to the Mumtaz restaurant in Kirkwall where Mr Mahmood was killed. Ironically, however, the Rosses were due to have a family night out at there the week after the murder.
Like his father, Eddie, Michael Ross had a passion for the military from an early age and also inherited his father's interest in guns. Eddie Ross had been interested in all types of firearms since he was 12. During his career, he was a weapons expert and sniper.
He joined the army at 19 in 1969, serving in the 1st Battalion Black Watch and the Royal Green Jackets. In the early 1970s, while serving in Northern Ireland, he was commended for bravery when he shot a sniper who was pinning down 30 men.
He left the army in 1974 and returned to Orkney. Later the same year, he joined Northern Constabulary. Michael, whose brother Colin was in the Royal Marines, joined the Lovat Scouts cadet force as soon as he could and as a teenager enlisted in the Black Watch, where he was the second best marksman in his intake.
Friends described him as a quiet teenager who often wore army-style clothing and whose knowledge of weapons surprised his cadet officers.
Kenny Pirie, a family friend, insists Michael Ross's interest in guns was perfectly innocent. He adds: "I have known Eddie for 40 years and Michael since he was born. You could not get better blokes."
TIMELINE
• 2 June, 1994 – Shamsuddin Mahmood, 26, a waiter, is killed by a masked gunman. Police officer Eddie Ross (Michael Ross's father) denies any knowledge of a bullet casing found on the restaurant floor.
• May 1997 – Eddie Ross is convicted and jailed for four years for trying to defeat the ends of justice. The charge was that he withheld information about ammunition he found in his home, resembling a cartridge used to kill Mr Mahmood. Police name Michael Ross as the prime suspect during his father's trial.
• September 2006 – A new witness writes an anonymous letter to police claiming he saw someone who could have been Michael Ross leaving a public toilet cubicle wearing a balaclava on the night of the shooting.
• 2007 – Police undertake a cold-case review.
• May 2007 – Michael Ross is arrested in Northern Ireland.
• June 2008 – Michael Ross is found guilty of murder at the High Court in Glasgow.
• 17 October, 2008 – Michael Ross is jailed for life at the High Court in Glasgow.
