Killer in jailbreak bid No3
Ex-sniper made ladder to try to scale fence
A FORMER Army sniper who shot and killed an Indian waiter on Orkney has admitted trying to escape from one of Scotland’s highest security prisons.
Michael Ross, 43, was caught as he tried to break free from HMP Shotts, Lanarkshire.
Prison guards watched as he attempted to scale the perimeter fence of an exercise yard using a home-made ladder.
Officers immediately stopped his brazen escape attempt and he was placed into solitary confinement for weeks and banned from contacting his family.
A hi-vis jacket he was wearing was searched and found to contain food, clothing and a toothbrush.
He claimed he knew his escape would not be successful but had done it to attract attention to his bid to appeal against his murder conviction after he was found guilty of shooting Shamsuddin Mahmood, 26.
Ross appeared via video link from HMP Low Moss at Hamilton Sheriff Court and admitted attempted prison breaking in July 2018. He was handed a two-year sentence by Sheriff Thomas Millar and told it would run alongside his current life term.
It is the third time Ross has tried to launch an escape from jail.
Depute fiscal Jennifer McCabe said: ‘Officers looked at CCTV and observed Mr Ross attempting to scale the fence.
‘Officers attended where the accused was standing and he was immediately removed to the segregation unit.’
His lawyer Aamer Anwar said: ‘He said his actions are as a result of his wrongful conviction and he believes that he is serving a sentence for something he didn’t do.
‘The incident was to draw attention to his case and highlight his innocence.
‘He and his supporters hope that the work being carried out on his behalf will eventually give them the information that truly shows that Michael Ross was wrongly convicted of this terrible murder.’
Sheriff Millar said: ‘It is a serious matter to attempt to escape from custody and it has to be marked by a custodial sentence.’
Ross was only 15 when he walked into a restaurant in Kirkwall in 1994 wearing a balaclava and shot Mr Mahmood.
He was convicted of the crime in 2008 after police received an anonymous letter identifying him as the gunman and he was handed a minimum sentence of 25 years.
After he was found guilty at the High Court in Glasgow, Ross leapt from the dock in a bid for freedom before being tackled by officials.
A hired car with a cache of guns and ammunition was found in a nearby Tesco car park.
‘Removed to the segregation unit’