Police Scotland's chief constable has 'no immediate plans' to meet with the family of a banker murdered almost 20 years ago.

The relatives of Alistair Wilson branded the force "incompetent" last week as the case was reopened to a "complete reinvestigation".

The 30-year-old father of two was shot on the doorstep of his Nairn home, in the Highlands, in November 2004.

His killer has never been found.

The Wilson family said relations with Police Scotland was "damaged beyond repair".

Mr Wilson's eldest son, Andrew, who was four years old when his father was murdered, last week urged the Chief Constable to reconsider meeting the family.

Chief Constable Jo Farrell was asked whether she would meet with the family to reassure them.

Speaking at Police Scotland headquarters in Tulliallan, near Alloa, she said: "I haven't got any immediate plans to meet with the family.


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"But we are absolutely committed to try and get justice and find the person responsible."

Asked by journalists why she would not meet with the family, she said a new senior investigating officer (SIO) had been appointed and it was important they built a "rapport" with the family instead.

She said: "It’s important that the SIO, the senior investigating officer, and her team and her family liaison officers build the relationship with the family and progress that investigation.”

Ms Farrell added: "This has been, over a number of years, a very, very extensive investigation and I just want to reiterate that - a very, very extensive investigation.

"We will now work further to try and bring justice for the family. I think it's important that family liaison officers and the new SIO build a rapport with the family."

"We're absolutely committed to trying to solve and get justice for the family of Alistair Wilson," she said.

"You know that we have a really, really strong track record around major investigations and homicide."

Alistair Wilson with his two sons. (Image: PA)Alistair Wilson with his two sons. (Image: PA)

Last week, Scotland's top law officer Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain KC announced she had ordered a complete reinvestigation into the case.

In a statement first reported in the Press and Journal newspaper, the Wilson family said they had fully supported every aspect of the police investigation for almost 20 years but could not continue to do so.

Mr Wilson's son Andrew, 24, said last week: “I cannot understand why Paul Livingstone hasn’t been sacked and if Jo Farrell (Police Scotland Chief Constable) won’t rethink our request for a meeting, then it brings into question her position too.

“What we have suffered is nothing short of incompetent police leadership and, if it continues, it risks getting in the way of catching my dad’s killer and getting the justice we as a family deserve.”

The family statement said: “At the request of Police Scotland, we’ve previously agreed to stay out of the spotlight by declining numerous invitations from the media to give interviews outwith those official appeals.

“However, over the past 18 months, our relationship with the police has steadily deteriorated because of unresolved and ongoing issues that are not being properly addressed.

“Approaching the 20th anniversary of Alistair’s unsolved murder, having desperately attempted every other avenue for resolution we possibly could, we feel distressed and disappointed at having no other option other than to speak out publicly.”

The family said they have made a series of complaints about how the force has handled the investigation, including the conduct of its head of major crime Detective Chief Superintendent Paul Livingstone.

“The poor judgment and lack of accountability at the highest levels of Police Scotland has regrettably eroded any trust we have in their ability to secure justice for Alistair," the statement said.

Mr Wilson was shot around 7pm on Sunday, November 28 after a man called at the family's Crescent Road home in Nairn, spoke to his wife Veronica, who had answered the door, and asked for her husband by name.

The 30-year-old banker went downstairs to speak to the man and was handed a blue envelope with the word "Paul" on it.

He went inside briefly and then returned to the door for a second time where he was shot and died later that evening in hospital.

The gun, a Haenel Suhl pocket pistol from the 1930s, was recovered from a drain near his home 10 days after his murder.

Mr Wilson's widower Veronica, 53, said: 

“It pains me that my sons have been robbed of having a father, but for them and my husband to be denied justice two decades on from that tragedy is even more traumatic for the family.

“We have lost confidence in Police Scotland.”