Willie McRae Investigations

  Let them turn their face from the common people and for ever be shamed   This is an unplanned post written at short notice. I have just come across an article in today’s Sunday Herald which highlights the new campaign for a Fatal Accident Inquiry into Willie’s death. The article gives background to McRae’s last hours, the new campaign, Fergus (Willie’s younger brother) McRae’s belief that there is nothing to learn about Willie's death – it was suicide.  Note: I posted earlier today about why I can’t agree with Fergus. The key passage, however, is the very last sentence, Read it again!  The Crown Office is quoted as saying, Crown Counsel are satisfied with the extensive investigations into the death of William McRae and Crown Counsel ….. have instructed that an FAI will not be held into the circumstances of Mr McRae’s death Effectively, the Crown Office is saying that there can be no new evidence  ….  ever ….. which cou...

Introduction In Part 24 I said that I believed any active involvement of the Special Branch* with Willie McRae was sufficient for an FAI to be held. (* see end of post)   In Part 26 we’ll look at evidence from a retired policeman, Donald Morrison, who claims Special Branch were involved up to, at least, the day McRae left Glasgow, 5 April 1985. Here you get to see what the police and Crown Office have said about Special Branch and McRae. Before we go there, I invite you to read Part 23, if you haven’t yet done so.  Last Sunday, 29 March, the Sunday Herald published an article highlighting the new campaign for a Fatal Accident Inquiry to be held into McRae’s death.  The article was light on information until the last sentence in which the Crown Office appears to have set its face against holding an FAI …. ever.  The Crown Office is quoted as saying, Crown Counsel are satisfied with the extensive investigations into the death of William Macra...

  It has taken a few posts to get here.  Now we’re going to see the evidence of Donald Morrison, a retired Glasgow policeman, who knew McRae.  My sources are emails Donald sent to me and Mark MacNicol and so what I present may not be the entirety of his evidence but it is what he shared with me.  I present what Donald Morrison saw, heard and knew about Special Branch and Willie McRae.  In this post I present most, but not all, of his evidence which I have divided into three sections.  The omitted part has no bearing on Special Branch. In Part 27, also published today, I present all the evidence he shared with no commentary other than a brief description of how I compiled his evidence.   Let me recap very briefly. In Part 24 I talked about why the alleged involvement of Special Branch is important to calls for a Fatal Accident Inquiry into McRae’s death.  I described that I found the distinction between active and historical int...

  In Part 26 I laid out Donald Morrison’s evidence – a policeman who knew McRae – under three headings: active, historical and on-going involvement of Special Branch with Willie McRae.  Here I publish it as one document including the section which wasn’t relevant for Part 25’s discussion. Note: This document is available online as a pdf file here . But first let me explain where this document has come from. Previously, Donald has spoken to Paula Murray of the Express and to Fergus Ewing.  I haven’t had access to their discussions.  Mark MacNicol (of one of the 3000 Trees plays) put me in touch with Donald.  Over a dozen or so emails Donald sent to one or other of us, key subjects were covered several times.  I then collated and consolidated these emails into categories which suited my thinking.  I wanted to ensure that for each of Donald’s points I extracted the maximum information and  description.  Where necessary, I tweeked gramm...

Over the last few days you’ve had the opportunity to read about Special Branch surveillance of Willie McRae: -   Parts 26 and 27: Donald Morrison’s evidence -   Part 25: Crown Office response to claims of SB surveillance of McRae -   Part 24: Why evidence of SB surveillance should lead to FAI Today I try to reconcile the apparently irreconcilable: Morrison’s evidence and Crown Office response but before then there are two points I must make. Firstly, if it were shown, without doubt, that Willie was followed by Special Branch then an inquiry would be vital BUT this involvement would not be evidence that Willie was murdered.  It would be evidence that Willie was ‘tailed’ by Special Branch.  No more! And that would be worthy of public examination. Secondly, I had always assumed the statement below to be true but two days ago Donald confirmed its truth, Donald Morrison has NEVER been interviewed by the police. I find this  incredible! I don’t kno...

  I welcome the new evidence presented in the article by Delamore and Semple in today’s Scotland on Sunday.  In Part 30, hopefully out Monday 6th April, I will review the evidence which they, and students at the University of Strathclyde’s investigative journalism course, uncovered.  The case for an inquiry should now be unstoppable but the Crown Office will almost certainly see this differently. I have a major criticism though and it intrudes only minimally into the article itself.  I suspect that Delamore and Semple are largely innocents with the blame to be laid at editorial level. And I need to rant about that before I look calmly and logically at the article itself.  In this long series I have tried to be even-handed in my analysis of evidence.  The one point at which I have veered is that I come down firmly on the side of an inquiry being held but, even here, I try to be fair to both sides of the argument.  Within the McRae case, howev...