The waiter murdered in a restaurant in Orkney was shot at close range, a court was told yesterday. Dr James Grieve, 54, a pathologist, told the High Court in Glasgow that the soot staining present on Shamsuddin Mahmood's face indicated that the gunman was “very close”.

Dr Grieve told the prosecutor Brian McConnachie, QC: “I would start with one to two feet. That is my opinion but I would defer to a ballistics expert if told different.”

Dr Grieve was giving evidence at the trial of Michael Ross, who denies murdering Mr Mahmood, who was 26, at an Indian restaurant in 1994.

He told the court that the bullet entered through Mr Mahmood's eye. Dr Grieve was asked if the injury was survivable and replied: “I don't think there would be any possibility of him surviving.” He revealed that the cause of death was a gunshot wound to the head.

Mr Ross, 29, from Inverness, is accused of entering the Mumutaz Indian Tandoori restaurant in Kirkwall town centre on June 2, 1994, with his face masked and shooting Mr Mahmood - who was known as Shamol - in the head.

Mr Ross, who was 15 at the time of the alleged murder, is also accused of attempting to defeat the ends of justice by changing his clothing and disposing of the weapon.

He is also charged with, while acting with others whose identities are unknown, committing a breach of the peace outside the Indian restaurant by shouting, swearing, uttering threats of violence and racist abuse.

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

Mr Ross is accused of committing a breach of the peace on May 19, 1994. He denies all charges and has lodged a special defence of alibi, claiming that he was cycling in another part of Orkney at the time of the shooting. The trial, before Lord Hardie, continues.

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