LEADING Scottish Nationalist Mr Willie McRae was under Special Branch

surveillance for many years before his mysterious death in 1985,

according to his closest business colleague.

Former Glasgow solicitor Mr Ronnie Welsh has broken a 10-year silence,

and in an exclusive interview with The Herald, has given his views on

the controversy surrounding his legal partner's death on a lonely road

near Loch Loyne, Inverness-shire.

Mr Welsh trained under Mr McRae and later joined him in his new

practice, McRae and Co, in Buchanan Street, Glasgow, in 1982.

Mr Welsh was devastated by his sudden death. He ''let the business

go'' and in November 1987 was struck off the solicitors' roll for

alleged financial irregularities.

He moved from Scotland to a new life in north-west England, his

whereabouts since 1986 remaining a mystery to all but his close friends

and family. The Herald tracked him down and last night he gave his first

interview in almost 10 years.

Certain facts are known: Mr McRae's car was found 29 yards off the A87

at Loch Loyne on the morning of Saturday April 6, 1985. He was found in

the driving seat, the apparent victim of a road accident.Many hours

later when Mr McRae was admitted to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary a nurse

discovered a gun-shot wound to his right temple.

A 48-hour police investigation led the procurator-fiscal at Inverness

to state that there were no suspicious circumstances and the then

Solicitor-General, Mr Peter Fraser, ruled against a fatal accident

inquiry.

Friends of Mr McRae have since speculated that he was murdered and may

have been the subject of MI5 and Special Branch surveillance.

''I think at the time all political figures were under surveillance.

You could spot the Special Branch officers at Bannockburn rallies by

their big police boots,'' quipped Mr Welsh.

''Willie was not overly concerned by this, but sometimes it bothered

him -- it had gone on for a few years and he felt they paid him special

attention.''

Mr Welsh dismissed as ''press speculation'' any connections between Mr

McRae and the Scottish National Liberation Army (SNLA). He said Mr

McRae's dealings with SNLA terrorists David Dinsmore and Adam Busby were

on the basis of giving legal advice and ''purely professional''.

Mr Welsh is not convinced the maverick lawyer's death was suicide. He

is also concerned by this week's revelations in The Herald.

''If it is found the the Crown has been lying, then they must be

brought to book,'' he urged, ''and then a full inquiry must obviously

follow.'' He suggests that any cover-up by Crown Office officials may be

to hide shortcomings of the police activities after Mr McRae's death.

Mr Welsh speculates on Mr McRae's final hours: ''He had a serious

drink problem. One scenario is that Willie had had an accident near

Invergarry, he may have been drinking and then the car ran off the road.

''Then what may have gone through his mind is that he already had

three drink-driving convictions and, with a fourth pending, he would

have been frightened of the prospect of a custodial sentence.

''But I can't reconcile that scenario with my feeling that, if he was

going to kill himself, he would have done it in his croft in Kintail

rather than there and then on the hillside.

''And something else doesn't seem to fit. When Willie left the office

at midday on Friday he was in cheerful spirits, had made appointments

for the following week and that was it. He gave no sign that he was

suicidal.''