The Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC) has confirmed it is reviewing the murder conviction of Michael Ross, a Black Watch soldier jailed in 2008 for shooting dead waiter Shamsuddin Mahmood in an Orkney restaurant in 1994, after fresh information emerged that his supporters believe could see the case referred back to the appeal court. Ross, who was a schoolboy at the time of the killing, became infamous after attempting a dramatic escape from Glasgow's High Court immediately after his conviction, fleeing towards a getaway car laden with weapons before being tackled by a court official, an episode that hardened public perceptions of his guilt.

The 1994 killing saw a masked gunman shoot 26-year-old Mr Mahmood in the head at the Mumutaz restaurant in Kirkwall in front of diners, sparking one of the most complex murder inquiries in the history of the former Northern Constabulary and bearing the hallmarks of a contract killing. Fresh doubts have now surfaced over the case, including questions about whether police interviews with Ross as a schoolboy should have been admissible, the apparent disappearance of dozens of documents from the original investigation, and an internal review, only recently uncovered, suggesting an officer suspected the victim's restaurant colleagues had not been entirely truthful.