All language subtitles for fxcvf

[Music]

what is it that makes the British

Seaside

[Music]

Sinister why does it seem to attract so

many killers is it the fact that the

tide washes away their sins is it the

fact that it's the end of the line

there's nothing overly frightening about

a big wheel or a carousel but what is

undeniable is that the BR

Seaside attracts and has always

attracted death and

[Music]

murder hello I'm Jeffrey wantel I write

about crime True Crime and in this new

series I want you to join me on a

journey to the Cliff's Edge where land

meets the sea and where life meets death

whilst some may consider my opinion to

be bold they have been formed after

writing bestsellers about real killers

for the past 30 years and staring evil

in the face for make no mistake there is

something sinister about our British

Seaside

towns on the surface they are all

funfairs candy floss and Breezy pronard

but by digging a little deeper in the

sand we uncover an underworld of Misfits

and misant murder and

[Music]

Mayhem and reveal the dark lives of the

most deadly Coastal Killers to ever

stalk our

[Music]

Shores

[Music]

in today's episode we tell the story of

Michael Ross the boy murderer who sent a

shock wave through the aisle of

ory imagine the

scene it is shortly after 7:00 on a

bright June evening in

1994 in Kirk wall in the

ory there are diners in an Indian

restaurant called the

mumas shamin mmud who's 26 is serving

whether it's chicken ticker Masala

whether it's Rogan Josh whether it's a

vegetable

Biryani all of a sudden a man walks

through the door tall strong but wearing

a balak clava no one knows who he

is he walks directly

up to

mmud with a 9 mm pistol in his hand he

raises it it and Fires at Point Blank

Range killing Mahmud

instantly he lowers the gun turns and

walks out of the restaurant it could

almost be a scene from The

Godfather there hasn't been a murder on

ory for 25 years the islands are stunned

the local police are

called no one knows anything

this Savage pitiless murder was to

remain a mystery for 14 years the

identity of the killer a matter of

speculation but no one

knew the scene was sealed off officers

were guarding it was taped off the

tables were still set you could see her

chairs had overturned there was blankets

on the floor where the deceased had been

covered but obviously he had been

removed by then um and we could see

where the bullet had launched in the

wall um spectacles belonging to the

deceased which were shattered were on

the

floor one of the local offices is a man

called Eddie Ross who is posted outside

the restaurant to make sure that no one

goes in or out while they're

interviewing the

customers Eddie Ross was an officer

based in kirkwell he was a local

orcadian I knew him he was a police

Constable he had been stationed on the

mainland um KUSI I think it was um so I

was aware of him um I knew him to speak

to he was a a local who had gone back to

live in his native Arney he had been

called out that night when the incident

happened and he was in guard Duty

sealing the premises and he spoke to

them and said if you if you let me in to

have a look at the bullet I should be

able to identify it for you and he did

do that he was allowed to do that under

their vision and he quickly identified

it was a 9mm bullet which was

manufactured in the kiry Arsenal which

is in India and that was obviously very

important information for

us no one would have guessed at that

moment in

1994 that the identity of the killer

when it was finally revealed was the son

of the policeman posted outside the

restaurant to guard the the crime scene

the killer's name was Michael

[Music]

Ross Michael Ross is the 15-year-old son

of Eddie Ross um he was still in school

15y old he was keen on the Army cets he

was in the local Rifle Club um and after

school his intention apparently was to

join the Army his father was seen as

something of a paragon of virtue he was

highly respected by the local community

and by his peers on the island because

he was a a good shot he was a good

Marksman he was also good with the

community he was good with the children

and he was good with businesses he would

what you did you did actually say was

great Community police officer to all

intents and

purposes because we knew he was ex Army

and he had great firearm expertise we

utilized him in the early stages of the

inquiry to go and find every 9 mm bullet

or gun on the island um and test fire it

these were obv sent away for ballistics

and we never did find anything that

marched the gun that fired the the fetal

[Music]

bullet

[Music]

he raised Michael in a good family home

and you can imagine it was quite

comfortable for the island of orany and

also in a very hostile environment in as

much as he would go out and he would

hunted teach Michael how to shoot so

Michael was learning habits and skills

that perhaps most children of his age

wouldn't have been used to so he was

going out into Farmers fields and was

shooting rabbits and killing game Etc um

sometimes for for the food on the table

but also for just for the sport of it so

Michael was learning lots and lots of

traits and habits of his

[Music]

father Michael Ross and his father Eddie

were extremely close Eddie Ross had been

a Firearms

officer the son was taught to shoot by

his father at an early age guns were

part of the Ross family heritage

[Music]

along with the growing love of Guns by

the time he was 15 the impressionable

teenager would see all of his darker

thoughts and passions distill into a

deadly intention a murder and one with

racist

[Music]

overtones he became a little bit more

vocal in his opinion about people people

and incomers and other people on the

islands people started seeing a

different side to him he was what you'd

call maybe a noisy teenager and very

vocal some of the Islanders will say

there wasn't a racist bone in his body

but there are other parts of the islands

where people will say he was racist and

he was making comments about people

coming to the islands and it was

accepted that that was maybe a common

feeling among some of them a certain

group of people so there is definitely

something there in the background that

does seem to Define racism not to the

extent where you would think it was

obvious but certainly personal opinion

was was become a little bit more

vocal on that fateful night in June

1994 Michael Ross took one of his

father's guns a pistol loaded it with

very specific 9 mm ammun

[Music]

pulled on a balaclava and walked out of

the house with only one intention and

that was the murder of shamsudin Mahmud

he was astonishingly just 15 years

old Michael Ross

was an unhappy uncomfortable

teenager he saw himself in his father's

image like his father he liked

Firearms he liked

shooting guns things that not every

teenager has access to you can

speculate how we became

angry or

racist at the age of

15 he takes a 9mm

pistol walks in to the mumas restaurant

in Kirk

wall walks up to one of the few Asians

in

orne stands opposite

him points the

pistol and blows his head

off

he then calmly turns around and walks

out of the restaurant again this

remember is a 15-year-old

boy this is not some trained assassin

this is not James Bond this is an

adolescent who has no concept of what

taking a life could mean and yet he

didn't hesitate to take

it

the murder sent a shock wave through the

aisle of ory and no stone was left

unturned by the police in the search for

the

killer we carried out house to house

inquiries in the Hall of kirkwall which

is quite a big town um and that took

many days and then we sent questioners

to every household in the whole island

of orty just looking for

information um over the coming days we

also update details of all the people

who had been staying in hotels guest

houses hostels anything like that on the

island and obtained all of that

information and subsequently over the

coming weeks we then arranged for local

police officers to visit every male that

came within the parameters I can't

remember what they were now but it would

be all males were interviewed personally

by the police officer whether that be in

America Australia wherever they were the

extensive investigations made by by the

authorities soon paid dividends with the

receipt of a crucial piece of

information there was an incident in pop

deal Woods the month before the murder

and a couple of school girls had seen a

child wandering about in papdale woods

dressed in a similar fashion to the

actual murderer in the restaurant a

month later balaclava black gear and he

was acting suspiciously dodging from

tree to tree and and just not acting

properly they had seen him do that they

didn't know who he was at the time but

sometime later one of the girls saw him

in the street and identified him to the

local officers and it was through you

know taking her back down to the street

the following day that we discovered

that this was Michael

Ross took him in interviewed him in the

police station in the presence of his

father and put to him the pap Woods

instant and at that point he denied it

Point Blank he said he had been not been

there we also asked him about the murder

and he goes in Alibi for the time of the

murder saying he'd been in papdale East

housing scheme and had spoken to three

friends who he named um and that was it

so we let him go with his father

obviously hot food out to interview the

three people he had named and all three

of them said that wasn't the case they

remembered the night of the murder

because they could hear the sirens going

to it they knew where they were at the

time and they were quite clear that

Michael was not with them at that time

we took him in interviewed him and he

immediately without any hustle at all

admitted being the person in papdale

woods said he had been there because one

of his ex-girlfriends was with a new

partner and he was beating her up and

Michael was going to scare him um when

he came out of school and that's his

explanation for being in the woods and

he was insistent he he was not the

person he didn't do it he he would not

have it in any shape or form so after

interview he he was released at that

point I made representations to the

chief Constable that I think we should

charge him with this murder I considered

we had sufficient to charge him I would

have to say there was some hesitation

and do we really have enough and I was

say yes we do I think in the event I can

only assume that it wasn't considered to

be enough to take it cuz many years went

past report just lay there it it it was

never

prosecuted in the absence of any other

convincing leads to follow the

hardworking detectives were left feeling

frustrated and rumors began to spread

like wildfire as to who the killer might

be at that point in time the belief was

it was a hitman somebody had come up to

the island specifically to hit on that

particular restaurant and that

individual but when it came to local

intelligence where you're hoping that it

might identify somebody who would be

that kind of individual that commits

such a crime there was nothing because

people were just seen as local people

who going about their business it's got

the style of a much older professional

Hitman not the style of a 15-year-old

and I can understand the police not

looking for a 15-year-old because it

doesn't have the characteristics of a

15-year-old we delved into the

background of the deceased and all of

the fellow waiters in the restaurant um

and concentrated heavily in that for for

many many weeks I could find nothing in

there that would suggest any motive

nobody on the island could believe it

they all wanted to believe that it was

some Mafia headit the waiter had

obviously done something before he came

to the island and fallen out badly with

some crime gang or something like that

was what the island wanted to believe

nothing we discovered came up with that

but they were always you know people

don't lock their doors normally but they

did from this stayed on they were

obviously all

concerned I find it hard to explain the

murder because there's no known

antagonism between the Indian the small

very small Indian Community and the

Ireland Community there's no known

relationship between Michael Ross and

his victim and it's been suggested quite

a lot that it was a racist attack

there was quite a lot of evidence

suggested at that time that there were a

number of the boys particularly those in

the cadets who had racist attitudes to

to things one of whom was Michael and

there was evidence from his associates

to the effect that he had uttered

something along the lines of black

people should have guns put to their

heads um there were writing sort of Nazi

Insignia on uh books that were found in

his house and so

on he decided that he didn't like the

people who worked in there he didn't

have a specific Target it's being

claimed that there was motives and

reasons behind what he did um to this

individual but at the time people were

thinking there has to be more behind

this than this is just some local person

who has decided to send a warning shot

out if you like to local imigrants and

incomers that they're not really that

welcome here what I find interesting is

the impact on the on the

community you would imagine that they

would be very protective but if they

didn't know who it was there's the

alternative ative side of it is that

they've got a killer in their community

and somehow they didn't seem to be too

worried about that whether they had some

agreement amongst themselves that they

wouldn't look too far or what we don't

know but orne islands are very small

small communities if you got a killer

you'd be worried or you'd think people

would be

[Music]

worried

what do you expect the Kirk wall police

to do they are a small tiny

force with very few officers available

after all you're a long way off the

North Coast of

Scotland

ironically one of the people they send

to protect the crime scene is Michael

Ross's father Eddie he's then tasked in

the wonderful words of modern policing

with searching for anyone in orne who

owns a 9mm

[Music]

pistol strangely he doesn't seem to find

anyone in the wake of the murder Eddie

Ross is charged by the police with

examining

all the 9mm pistols on the

island to see if perhaps he can find a

match to the gun that was used in The

Killing in the restaurant but of course

that gun has

disappeared the bullet however has not

two months pass Eddie Ross makes no

mention to anyone that he perhaps might

have an interest in Firearms he would

expect them to know that anyway until he

boasts what one evening in the police

station that actually he has a set a box

of sealed box of bullets containing a

bullet remarkably like the one that was

used to kill the waiter they're rather

special their

1972 Army issue they are not by any

means

common that admission brag if you will

was to cost Eddie Ross a very great

deal

[Music]

one morning I came into the office and

Eddie approached me and said he had a

box of bullets identical to the murder

bullet which I was astonished to hear

and said what we've been looking for

these all through the island why have

you just found this out and why are you

telling me now and he was a bit hesitant

so I instructed the civilian driver we

had in in our ory to go straight home

Eddie I think had been a night shift so

I instructed him to go out with Eddie

get the bullets and take them back in to

me there was a sealed box of 9 mm

bullets all sealed in cellophan so

obviously the the bullet had not come

out of that

box I then asked Eddie where he had got

the bullets and he was evasive couldn't

remember said he may even have got them

in Bisley which I think is arranged down

in England when was down there and of

course he just couldn't remember and

that was how it was left for that day I

think a day later I spoke to him again

and said we need to know where these

bullets came from and he then said he

had got them from a local on the island

who had handed them to him he said there

was one box of 9 mm and two boxes of 22

bullets I asked him who that person was

and he wouldn't tell me um I then

instructed him to go straight out that

night find him not speak to him and take

him and to speak to me and he agreed to

do this went out came back half an hour

later and told me I can't find him so at

that point I said right leave it take no

further action don't go and look for him

and leave it when I came in early the

following morning he spoke to me again

and said he happened to bump into this

chap at halfast 6 in the morning and had

spoken to him

and I obviously was not happy with that

because I told him not to so then I

asked him who it was and he said he he

was still hesitant telling me and he

wouldn't tell me but he said he'd

arranged for the man to come in to be

interviewed by me at

2:00 H then at 2:00 the chap did come in

his name was James Spence he was ex

military and uh he told me that he had

handed one box of 9 mm bullets and one

box of of two two bullets to Eddie many

many months if not years before I can't

remember um obviously I was a bit

suspicious about this because Eddie had

told me there was one box of 9 mm and

two boxes of0 22 so I pressed him and he

wouldn't have it I didn't Satan was a

two but I said are you sure that was the

number and he he wouldn't change his

mind there was one box of each and that

was

it obviously we had some concerns with

the way it had come to light how he'

given them to us and how there was a

discrepancy in the number of of boxes so

that obviously was giving us cause for

concern but subsequently some time later

we went back and we spoke to Spence

again H and on this occasion he did

agree that there had been or he told us

that there had been uh two boxes of 9mm

bullets one which had been sealed which

was the one we had and one which had

been open opened with some bullets out

of it um and that put a new complexion

on it he also told us that three times

in the period since the murder to this

point Eddie had spoken to me had

approached him spoken to him and said

dhism is going to be coming looking for

you if he comes don't tell him about the

second box of 9mm bullets Eddie Ross had

actually now started cooking the books

if you like it started changing the the

landscape and the record relating to the

ammunition because he became aware that

somebody namely his son must have been

involved and used those bullets to fire

the weapon that killed

mammood he did like a lot of fathers

lied on behalf of his son he I think he

went from being a police officer to

being a father and lying for that

reason whether he knew his son had

killed or suspected we don't know

I I I I think he probably knew his son

had had been involved otherwise he

wouldn't have risked his

[Music]

career Eddie Ross was actually charged

and and he was jail for 4 years and even

then with that information and that

evidence there was still very little

that they could do to actually nail an

offender for the murder they were still

looking they were still actively

searching for a killer there was still

this h man belief there was all kinds of

stories and myths circulated on on the

island that there was illegal immigrants

living upstairs in the in the restaurant

and there was a million and one reasons

why it wasn't an Islander that killed

Mamud Michael joins the Army very

shortly after the killing in the Indian

restaurant in Kirk

wall it's a perfect place for a young

man man who has had an interest in guns

ammunition perhaps you might even argue

violence but certainly it provided

Michael Ross with the perfect

environment to reflect his upbringing

with his father

[Music]

[Music]

Eddie

at 16 he joined the army and ended up

becoming a sergeant and being a sniper

so was this an extension of his

childhood was he actually joining the

Army and shooting and legitimately

killing people because that's what he

liked

doing he was part of the black watch he

served overseas he was highly regarded

by all his service peers and and by his

commanding officer and people actually

still to this day stand up and say what

a great serviceman he was

and he would give his life to help a

colleague in distress and a really good

lad that you'd want alongside you in a

in a battle and yet there was his dark

past that he had that he was keeping

secret and private maybe being in the

armed forces and being in actual Warfare

situations that alleviated some of the

stresses and the tensions and the the

obsession he had with firearms and

killing and and got that out of his

system because he was able to use that

in in arm combat um we don't know

as a soldier Michael Ross excelled he

was well-liked and admired and was even

decorated during battle for selfless

bravery I think it's highly significant

he joined the British army it gave him

the opportunity at 16 to leave a small

community small island go around the

world see people he learned how to be a

sniper he learned how to kill people

he's already killed once he's got that

personality that calmness that you need

to be a sniper he's got that he's

comfortable with guns and the Army is

the ideal place for him it also takes

him out of the

[Music]

investigations

[Music]

Michael Ross enjoyed an extraordinarily

distinguished Army Career he became a

sniper for the black watch

decorated at Buckingham Palace a man of

apparently impeccable pedigree whom no

one could possibly have suspected might

have a brutal murderous

past

[Music]

as far as the outside world was

concerned Michael Ross was a war hero

mentioned in dispatches in Iraq a

sergeant and a sniper in the black watch

the perfect example of a man who has

done his best for his

country in reality however he was

something far far darker he was a man

who at the age of 15 had brutally killed

an innocent waiter in a Kirk Wall

Restaurant who had done nothing whatever

to harm him or upset him and he done it

for the worst and most base motive of

all

racism it wasn't until

2006 that Ross's pretense to the world

St started to fall apart for it was then

that a witness to his killing came

forward to the police and told them that

he'd seen Ross change in a cubicle in a

public

laboratory very close to the restaurant

where he

killed the letter basically said that

there was somebody in the public toilet

that evening when Michael Ross came in

with the balac clava and the weapon and

the clothing he was wearing and

basically changed into some other

clothing and he'd seen him and had

commented you've got a gun there and

Michael had had said yeah and walked out

now the first thing that when this

Anonymous letter was deposited at the

police station people identified who the

handwriting was so the police went to

that person and said you have been in

trouble with the police in the past with

Eddie Ross so is this your way of

getting back at him now when that was

circulated publicly the arcadians

naturally thought that that was the case

because this man was not viewed by many

parts of that Community as being the

most honorable so the local community

actually turned on him and said he was

making the whole thing up but the police

didn't the police continued their their

search of their investigation to the

extent where Michael Ross was arrested

and charged with the murder

the eyewitness testimony alongside other

long-standing suspicions are enough for

the police to make a move on Michael

Ross military police were informed at

the base he was stationed at and he was

handed over to the Scottish police for

questioning Ross was arrested and an

investigation began which revealed other

evidence that could convict him

including a 9mm shell

Ross still kept up the pretense of being

a decorated war hero a man who could not

possibly have committed such a dreadful

crime indeed when he got to court he

maintained that Supreme confidence that

I am a decorated soldier I am a war hero

no one could possibly believe that I

committed that kind of crime it is

beyond consideration

Ross's credentials looked impeccable

whilst the prosecution's main witness

William Grant did not put on a

convincing display in

court his evidence on paper was

extremely significant because he said

that it was Edmund Ross's son who he saw

in the toilets uh at Kirk

wall his evidence on paper was

significantly better than his evidence

in court um he still said the same

things but he wasn't a terribly

impressive

witness and what that meant for my

purposes was that the case became much

more of a circumstantial case rather

than an eyewitness case and what I tried

to do when I spoke to the jury at the

end of it all was to bring him in at the

end as it were to pointing out all the

other factors that I considered were

relevant to establishing that it was

Michael Ross and then bringing him at

the end to to say basically he must be

right I'm satisfied that the evidence I

gathered was was fair it was very fair

because not many murder inquiries will

you find that the father is taken in an

interview we did that to be ultra fair

so nothing could be cast up at us later

on saying we'd done anything un word it

was recorded anyway but uh you'll not

find many interviews where you find the

accus father present I'm quite satisfied

that all the evidence we gathered was

good accurate whether it was sufficient

to provide conviction only a Judy would

tell

that after much deliberation when the

jury returned to give their verdict

Michael Ross was found guilty of

murder he got sentenced to 25 years

which is quite a lot if you consider

that it's an action of a 15-year-old

school boy if you see it in the context

of a thorough professional killing and

then hidden for 13 years and would have

carried on being hidden for the next 30

odd

years then you can see why the judge

gave him a more substantial

sentence he tried him as an adult he

didn't try him as a as a

juvenile When Ross heard the judge Jud

called him a vicious coward and

sentenced him to 25 years minimum in

jail

Ross did the most unexpected thing of

all just at the point where they were

about to take him down he just kind of

nudged one of the officers very slightly

just knocking him off balance and which

point he let go of him and at that point

he vaulted the

dog

[Music]

ran out the court he went out that door

and the court merer who is I suppos the

equivalent of the English Court Usher he

he went out of the door and grappled

with him and caught

him get off get off I didn't do

your he was then brought back and taken

downstairs the police then had to piece

together number one how did he get to

court from from orne and realized that

he' actually traveled by a car it hired

a car and they tracked the car down to

car park locally not too far away from

the the court building when the car was

searched open the boot was opened in

there was a machine gun there was

ammunition

there was basically camping equipment

and hiking gear and a grenade as well

and Michael had those things with him in

the car now the first thing you have to

say that isn't really the actions of an

innocent

man it later transpired that he'd

actually stolen the rifle from when he

was in the armed forces I managed to get

it back home to Arney where he was

keeping it for whatever we don't know

the purpose but the May well have been

fur the Rampage carried out by that

individual had the police not found a

vehicle and he'd been wrestled to the

floor and and put back into custody but

you don't carry the kind of weaponry and

that kind of ammunition which can be

devastating to human life and property

you don't carry that around for uh for

[Music]

fun a gun ammunition survival kit he was

planning to run from the court get in

the car and drive to the highlands of

Scotland where he proposed to live rough

in fact the car was was literally packed

With Grenades ammunition and guns he

could have killed a very very great many

people in fact at one point it was said

and I

quote that Hall of weapons was designed

to kill numerous people

quickly Ross didn't make it to the car

thank goodness because he could easily

have set off another Hungerford Massacre

another dun

Blaine he is a man who

knew no doubts in his own ability he'd

been well trained by the British Army

and he thought he could survive

anything in the end he found himself in

jail but even then he didn't give

up

in jail

Ross thought out a plan to get himself

out meticulously and with considerable

skill he fashioned a wooden angle

grinder and put it in the place of the

real angle grinder that he stole from

the prison

Workshop

he was planning to use it to cut through

the bars in his cell and Escape

thankfully he didn't manage it because

the prison staff realized that the angle

grinder they now had in the workshop was

in fact a fake a brilliantly made fake

but fake nonetheless once again Ross's

attempt to escape prison and find

himself his own personal freedom

failed he remains exactly where he

belongs Behind

[Music]

Bars despite Ross's devious bid to win

back his freedom he is now well into his

25 year long life

sentence he will be approaching

retirement age by the time he is

released

a 15-year-old boy executing somebody in

a restaurant with no motive on an island

off the North Coast of Scotland is unir

of and I think if somebody was to write

a piece of fiction with that story line

nobody would believe it it's it is

almost

unbelievable there is no such thing as a

perfect

murder and in this instance you can see

somebody witnessed something back 10 12

14 years later and sat on that secret

because they were frightened they were

genuinely scared as to the repercussions

because of the family and what the other

Islanders would make of them and what

action might be taken against them

unofficially or illegally so that man

had kept quiet for all those years and

when he come forward and he did reveal

the truth and it was the truth because

we now know from from evidence that

Michael was the killer um that man that

individual basically still lives alive

to this day where there are certain

parts of that Community who do not

believe that he was telling the truth

that believe it was a vendetta against

Eddie Ross to get Michael into trouble I

I think there was a good case against

him to support the fact that it was him

and I nothing came up in the course of

that case or in anything that I've seen

since to suggest to me that uh it was

the wrong man I I have to confess I I

don't lose sleep over the fact that

there's an innocent man in prison

because that's not the way it seemed to

me on the evidence my own view is that

he had a Fascination for

Weaponry he had a Fascination for the

Army and I think he wanted to know what

it was like to kill

somebody normally when we we talk about

cases we talk about

Rehabilitation uh but I'm not quite sure

how we're going to rehabilitate Michael

Ross he was actually in the Army paid to

go and kill people that was his job now

if he's going to come out of prison

what's he going to do we can't we can we

can certainly stop him have access to

guns any any convicted prisoner who has

access to a gun can go straight back to

prison he's on a life sentence so any

misbehavior he's back into prison

but what are we going to do you know

it's hard enough to uh change uh a

soldier from being a soldier to go back

into the community a lot of them find it

very difficult to adapt to the society

and and away from the the support of the

Army in his case he hasn't got the

support of the army he hasn't got the

support the community and he's got a

very uh long prison sentence behind him

so he's going to have problems

rehabilitating the terrible tragedy of

this case is if only Michael Ross had

used his very considerable talents he

might have benefited Society instead of

being condemned forever as a racist

murderer

[Music]

join me Jeffrey wall next time for more

murders by the

[Music]

sea

[Music]