Grieving family’s fury as top cop backtracks over harbour death ‘murder’
SIR STEPHEN’S FALSE HOPE OVER 22-YEAR FIGHT House changes his mind two days later
After 22 years, this was a positive sign of the rubbish being stripped away ALLAN MCLEOD
POLICE SCOTLAND’S first chief constable has backtracked days after telling a grieving family that their son Kevin Mcleod was murdered.
Two days after appearing to have cut through years of denials, Sir Stephen House, now deputy commissioner of the Met, back-pedalled.
He wrote again to say it had been an “inadvertent reference” and he had not intended to create “uncertainty”.
Kevin, 24, was found dead in Wick harbour in February 1997 and Northern Constabulary quickly deemed it to be an accidental death.
But his body showed signs of him taking a severe beating.
The pathologist conducting the post-mortem found he had a burst liver and internal bleeding, which officers sought to explain by saying he might have run into a bollard.
Alerted to his severe injuries, the Crown instructed the pathologist to restart with a colleague, as any post-mortem after a suspicious death in Scotland needs two doctors for corroboration.
Despite the pathology, numerous witness statements and no shortage of suspects named to police, the force proved impossible to shift from its initial position of accidental death.
Current Chief Constable Iain Livingstone, then deputy chief constable, confirmed to the Mcleod family in 2017 the Crown had instructed police to re-investigate the death.
Now in charge of the force, Livingstone took the further step in the summer of asking Merseyside Police to examine the evidence and all the actions taken by local officers, provoking hope for the family that justice might be done.
The family recently wrote to House to try to establish some of the background.
Kevin’s parents, June and Hugh, asked: “We request for you to please disclose and confirm that during your time as chief constable of Police Scotland, whether or not you had been made aware that legacy force Northern Constabulary had failed to act on the procurator fiscal’s specific instruction to investigate Kevin’s death as murder.
House replied on Tuesday: “I do not recall the specifics of any conversation along the lines that you mention.”
He then described Kevin’s death as murder, saying: “A system was set up in Police Scotland to review all unsolved homicides and I do remember several conversations about your son’s murder.”
But on Thursday, he wrote again to backtrack on use of the word “murder”, saying: “I understand my inadvertent reference to your son’s tragic death as a murder in responding to your email may have introduced some uncertainty, which I certainly did not intend.
“My personal involvement in the case was limited and I did not recollect that one of the ongoing issues was a difference of view between yourselves and those investigating the cause of your son’s death.
“I hope you will understand I was not wishing to make comment on the cause of Kevin’s death.”
Kevin’s uncle, Allan Mcleod, said: “The family was shocked that Sir Stephen referred to Kevin’s death as murder but it was also a relief.
“We thought that after more than 22 years, this was a positive sign of all the rubbish being stripped away. To receive the second email backtracking from the position we all know is true was disappointing.
“June and Hugh have written to him again to seek clarification.
“Police ought to be ashamed of the disgraceful and disrespectful manner in which they had treated our family.”
House declined to make any comment.