Justice for Willie (Campaign, 2015)

Some of you may be the type who read the last page of a novel first, so for your benefit I, Mark MacNicol, will start off by saying this…

Regarding the circumstances surrounding the death of Willie McRae, my conclusion, along with the majority of people on our campaign committee, is that there is no evidence that undermines the official suicide verdict. In fact we believe when considered collectively our new evidence reinforces it.

When I first heard of Willie in 2014 I couldn’t believe what I was hearing relating to the circumstances surrounding his death. I’ve learned a valuable lesson. Like so many others I was taking what I was being told as facts (and then passing them on). Those ‘facts’ were the result of over 30 years of the Scottish equivalent of Chinese whispers.

I hope that after reading our summary report and/or detailed report in possession of all the available facts, you will join me in drawing a line under the theories and speculation once and for all.

Some of the people who have made claims, expressed opinions, or otherwise been in the public domain have been named in our reports. Some are anonymous because they have not been connected with the case publicly, requested us to do so or in some cases we used our discretion.

Let us remember Willie McRae for the fond memories of those who knew him and for his many positive achievements in both activism and politics – not for the circumstances surrounding his death.