A woman spoke yesterday of her shock after learning that her husband claimed to have information about an unsolved murder on Orkney.

Jane Grant, 37, was giving evidence at the trial of Michael Ross, a sergeant with the Black Watch, who denies murdering Shamsuddin Mahmood, a 26-year-old Bangladeshi waiter, on June 2, 1994 at an Indian restaurant in Kirkwall, Orkney.

Mrs Grant told the High Court in Glasgow that her husband, William, came to see her in September 2006, a day before he handed an anonymous note to police claiming that he had information about the shooting.

Brian McConnachie, QC, for the prosecution, asked Mrs Grant: “On September 1, 2006, did William come to see you and tell you something about the murder in Kirkwall?”

She replied: “Yes.”

Asked to describe her reaction to what her husband had to say, she told the court: “I was shocked. I asked him why he had not done anything about it before, why he had not gone to the police earlier.”

Mrs Grant, who is separated from her husband, said that in the 12 years between the shooting and September 1, 2006 he had never mentioned anything to her about what he allegedly saw.

Earlier, her 51-year-old husband, ending his evidence after three days in the witness box, denied that he had made up a story about seeing a gunman in public toilets on the night of the shooting.

Mr Grant said that he believed the person he saw was Michael Ross, though he admitted that he had only come to this conclusion after a period of months. He said: “I thought that it looked like Michael Ross.”

Mr Ross, now 29, who was 15 at the time, is also accused of attempting to defeat the ends of justice by changing his clothing and disposing of the weapon. He is further charged with, while acting with others whose identities are unknown, committing a breach of the peace by shouting, swearing, uttering threats of violence and racist abuse.

This offence was allegedly committed between May 3 and May 24, 1994.

He denies all the charges and has lodged a special defence of alibi, claiming that he was nowhere near the Indian restuarant or Kirkwall town centre, but was cycling in another part of Orkney.

The trial, before Lord Hardie, continues.