The Trial

"This was a vicious, evil, unprovoked murder of a defenceless man.” Lord Hardie, SKY News, 17 Oct 2008

In May 2008, the family of Shamsuddin Mahmood finally get to see a man on trial for his murder.

After six weeks of evidence the jury of five men and ten women find Ross guilty of murder by majority. He sits emotionless as the verdict is passed. He is also found guilty by majority of trying to defeat justice by dumping the murder weapon.

Detective Inspector Iain Smith, who led the team that apprehended Ross, said he had been convicted of "a shocking and sickening crime".

To his comrades in the Black Watch, Sgt Michael Ross is nothing other than a hero. In actual fact he is a cold blooded, racist murderer.After the hearing, Abul Shafiuddin, Mr Mahmood's brother, says,"The family feel happy with the verdict and happy with the performance of the Police. Justice has been done. We are grateful to all who worked to bring the accused to trial."T

heir barrister adds: "We lost all of our hope and felt this mystery would never be solved."

It is not the end of the drama, however.

As Ross is being led down to the cells after the verdict, he attempts to escape by jumping over the dock and running from the court. Ross is seconds away from escaping into the street when a court official manages to grab him and pin him to the ground.

Subsequently police discover a car parked in a Tesco car park near the court that Ross has hired to aid his escape. Frighteningly, in it are a cache of arms including a machine gun, rifle, grenades, knives, camouflage clothing, bullets and binoculars.

Witnesses at the time said it was like something you would expect from a Rambo movie. There is a possibility that he had a plan to make an escape and live on the survival skills he learned in the Army.

Police evacuate more than 1,000 shoppers and staff from the Tesco store and cordon off the area. Army bomb disposal experts then spend hours searching the vehicle for booby traps before it is removed.