this is bbc news, the headlines... japan have beaten spain 2—1 in doha to reach the knockout stage of the world cup. fans gathered in a fan zone to watch the match and then took to the streets to celebrate. spain also go through, but the result means that germanyjoin belgium in going out of the tournament. the case against a former political adviser accused of raping a colleague inside australia's parliament building has been dropped — because of concerns for his alleged victim's mental health. the adviser, bruce lehrmann, denied sexually assaulting brittany higgins in a government minister's office in march 2019. a royal row over racism has been raising questions in the uk, after a woman accused honorary royal lady susan hussey of "othering" her at an event at buckingham palace.

the controversy comes as prince william and kate attend events in the us. in a statement, prince william's kensington palace office said "racism has no place in our society". now on bbc news, the big cases: the doorstep murder. operator: do you need the fire, police or ambulance? _ my husband's been shot! inaudible. i can't hear you. do you require the fire, police or ambulance? oh, my god! inaudible. who do you want to speak to? the fire, police or ambulance? police and ambulance, my husband'sjust been shot. it's one of scotland's most notorious unsolved murderers. my last and my only memory is of my dad on the floor in a pool of his own blood. we know that someone out there knows and look what it's doing to ourfamily, look at the damage that it's done. two sons growing up

without a dad. ten days in, finding the gun, we thought that would be it, it would be solved. nearly two decades after the murder of alistair wilson, could police be closer to catching his killer? the 28th of november, 200a. nairn, a quiet seaside town in the scottish highlands. lynsey gardner was having a meal with herfriend in the havelock hotel, just metres from the wilson family home.

it was quite busy that night. there was quite a lot of people. sunday evening, out for sunday dinner. what was the atmosphere like? just lots of chatter, music — thejukebox was on, music was playing. a few people having drinks at the bar. across the road, alistair wilson was reading his two sons a bedtime story when the doorbell rang. i ran downstairs. we were expecting another friend that evening. i did not recognise — it was somebody that i didn't know but he asked for alistair. so, ijust thought nothing of it, you know? i ran back upstairs and told al that there was somebody at the door asking for him, and took over reading stories to the boys. alistair spoke to the man, closed the front door, went back upstairs to veronica and the boys.

he was carrying a blue envelope with the name paul written on it. what can you tell us about this envelope? alistair came back upstairs with the envelope and, as you know, it had paul on it, so he was a bit bewildered as to what the gentleman had said because the envelope was not addressed to him. i said, "no, he definitely asked for you by name." it wasn't addressed to himself and there was nothing in the envelope. he found that quite strange and he went back downstairs to see if the gentleman was still there. alistair opened the front door again. the man was still there. veronica heard loud bangs. she said it sounded like wooden pallets being dropped. i just left the boys in the room and ran down, didn't see anything, ran down and he was lying in the porch. it was so serious, there wasjust so much blood.

alistair had been shot in the face and the body. just looking at al thinking, "i didn't know what to do," and "i can't do this". this is my husband we're talking about. i can't help him. i don't know what to do so i run across the road to the hotel and screamed to them that i need help. mrs wilson burst through the door. "please help, please help — my husband has just been shot. " myself and my friend looked each other in disbelief. did we hear what we thought we had just heard? just got up and ran out to try and help. itjust so happened that we were the first ones to arrive at the door and see alistair lying there in the doorway. he wasjust fighting for his life, really. his face, i noticed first,

his cheek was puffed out and he was struggling to breathe, and, yeah... so he was conscious at that time? he was still conscious, yes. he was still conscious. they weren't the only people on the scene. the owner of the havelock hotel rushed to the doorstep from a barjust down the road. his name is andy burnett. he no longer lives in scotland. but a year after the murder, he gave a detailed account of what happened that night to a sunday times journalist. he said that he went up i the steps, he saw alistair was lying on the ground - and he also described seeing a bullet hole just. beneath his cheek.

he said that there was another woman there and he said - that she, in his words, . she was doing everything but putting her fingers. in the bullet holes to stop the blood but she was doing everything she could to try i and save alistair. we had the paramedics on the other side of the phone telling us what we should be doing. i remember seeing a cartridge of a bullet lying on his chest, stomach sort of area. i can remember pushing up his shirt to see if i could, if there was any bullet wounds, to help stop the bleeding. veronica was there and it seemed to andy burnettl that she was in shock. he described it as, he goti a hold of her and made her look at him. and he said, "what happened?" she said, "this really weird guy came to the door." - could you see inside the house? yes. i remember at one point looking up to see a little boy standing

at the bottom of the stairs and trying to ask anybody that was about to try and take the little boy into another room. i didn't want the little boy to see what we were looking at in the doorway. it was his dad. that little boy was andrew wilson. here he is with his dad on the day of the murder. andrew can't remember that walk in the woods but what he saw later that night is etched on his mind forever. the only memory that i have got of my dad is the image of him lying on the doorstep in his own blood. so, this happened to me. you go through the photos and stuff. i don't have any of those memories. they are all other people. i was four and my brother was two. my brother has even

less memories than me. andy burnett, the owner of the havelock, told the sunday times he initially thought the shooting had been inside his pub. when he ran over, he realised it was across the road. he said more or less i that he was being nosy. he was concerned, he knew them as a couple, he described how- he had played golf once - with alistair, and he described how eventually the body was being taken away. i i remember standing at the front door, just looking out into the dark night, and all of a sudden just thinking, it sort of come to realisation that there was somebody out there with a gun so i was probably standing in full view. alistair was pronounced

dead in hospital. two boys, each two and four, left without their dad, veronica, without her husband. there was a huge manhunt for the killer. alistair wilson's murder remains a mystery. the description of the gunman has been circulated widely in the inverness area but it's not rung a bell with anyone locally. think again — could it be a local man? perhaps a customer of mr wilson from the bank of scotland in inverness. he is late 30s, short and stocky, maybe around 94", maybe a bit taller. he had short, dark hair but was wearing a black baseball cap, darkjeans and a black bomberjacket. the shooting happened in the small town of nairn in the scottish highlands. not a place you'd expect a gangland—style murder. the last killing here in the 1980s after a fight at a wedding reception.

the wilsons had moved to nairn 18 months before. they'd fallen in love with its beautiful beaches and wanted to raise their children here. alistair was a manager at the bank of scotland in nearby inverness and veronica had been a graphic designer. they had had a whirlwind romance. he was one of those people you met and you just knew. then, yes, it all happened very fast. sounds like love at first sight. yes, he was just — when he said he was there at eight o'clock, he was there at eight o'clock with a bunch of flowers, on time, and it was all very nice, having somebody who just instantly cared so much, and very genuine and honest. yes, it very quickly moved on and within six weeks, we were engaged. wow. yes, so it was, ijust knew straight away.

when he wasn't working, it was just all about the boys. he was very hands—on. alistair had two weeks left of his job at the bank when he was murdered. he wasn't enjoying it any more — the challenge wasn't there. with any big organisation, the rules change, the circumstances change, and he wasn't doing what he had set out to do, helping other people more and more. he couldn't. it didn't fit into the rules now of the bank. nine days into the police investigation, there was a breakthrough when a council worker made an important discovery. we'd gotten up to the drain, we were cleaning about, and there was a gun sitting at the bottom of the drain. i thought it was a toy,

because of the size of it. just being down the drain, i thought someone was pulling a sickjoke after what had happened. but then once we lifted it out, i felt the weight of the gun and, in fact, realised it was real. the gun that killed alistair was found half a mile from the wilson family home. it wasn't a weapon you'd expect to be used in a murder. it's a haenel suhl model one—pocket pistol, built in the 1920s or 1930s in the czech republic. as you'll see from it and the size of my hands, when i put my hand around the grip, i can only get one fingeraround the grip of the pistol. it's extremely small. ten days in and finding the gun the first time is just, thought that was amazing, that was it, this is it. it would be solved. but no dna was found on the gun

— a hammer blow for the family and the police investigation. and the blue envelope that alistair had carried back downstairs has never been found. this is the best match, the best likeness of the envelope that was handed to alistair wilson on 28 november 2004, shortly before he was shot. a couple of interesting facts. one, the name paul was on this envelope. and secondly, when he's gone upstairs to his wife, the envelope is open and there's nothing inside. what was the purpose of the envelope, and who is paul? just two of the many mysteries in this case. the years passed, but the police were no closer to finding answers to those questions. alistair�*s life was under the spotlight. 0ur life's been looked into in every fine detail over and over again with all the different teams we have had.

yeah. i don't think there's anything that hasn't been touched. veronica and her two boys stayed in nairn after the murder. in fact, they continue to live in the same house where alistair had been shot. veronica had to put up with gossip and whispers as suspicion fell on her, too — despite police being clear she's not a suspect. what is it like knowing that people are judgemental, knowing that people will hang on every word you say and look for clues of whether you're guilty or not? it's really difficult. you do feel a lot of the time you're not living your own life because you have to be careful what you say, as you say, i have information other people might not know. i always try to put myself in their position, "what would i think if i read about us?" to be able to sleep at night, people might have to think there was something there. itjust makes our life fairly uncomfortable. we exist.

we don't live the way we should do. there have been countless theories about alistair�*s murder — that it was related to his work in the bank, that its brutality suggested it was the work of a hitman or that there was irish paramilitary involvement. police have investigated all of these, but they've drawn a blank on a motive. until now. remember the havelock, the pub where veronica ran for help in the minutes after alistair was shot? well, back in 2004, it had been taken over by andy burnett. he was 37 at the time. his linkedin profile says he's ex—army, a diplomatic career, posted to germany for five years in the 1990s.

andy burnett installed decking and a new seating area at the havelock in may of 2004, just in time for the summer. he applied for planning permission later. there was a call for any objections from neighbours. alistair wasn't happy, and wrote a letter. here's a section of it: now, that last line is interesting because andy burnett told the sunday times in 2005 that alistair and veronica had begun keeping their curtains closed.

yeah, i thought this was interesting that the suggestion from andy burnett was there was something a little off—key about the couple. that he'd said two weeks before the shooting, "why is their front door never open and why are the curtains always closed? it's like they've got something to hide." or maybe the curtains were shut, as alistair�*s letter says, because people at the pub were staring right in front of their windows. the council sent this letter to the havelock two days before his murder. and the police now believe it's significant. for the first time, they have a possible motive. we believe the most likely motive, based on what was a current grievance in alistair�*s life at the time of the murder, was the fact that he had objected, in writing, about a large decking area that had been built in the pub car park directly opposite

where they stayed. we know that that knowledge of alistair�*s name was shared with others in amongst the pub at the time, so that, after 18 years, is what we believe to be the most likely grievance that might result in somebody coming into conflict with alistair at the time of his murder. could the reason for this gangland—style assassination really be a dispute over a pub decking area? andy burnett is no longer living in nairn — he sold the havelock and moved to canada in 2013. detectives travelled to nova scotia and interviewed him over the course of four days. we tried to speak to him, too, but he either didn't receive our messages or didn't want to respond. for the first time in years, there's been a flurry of activity around the case. but police knew about the decking dispute when alistair was killed.

andy burnett told the sunday times he'd been a focus of the police enquiry. "a big issue for the police and everybody else in nairn, is that on the saturday, i got letterfrom council, complaining about decking, and saying, �*crescent road �*predominantly a family street�*. then on the sunday, he got shot and that was me being interrogated and investigated. even went to guernsey and spoke to my golfing partner." he means the police went to guernsey and spoke to his golfing partner, "asking him if i got angry and things like that." the police have emphasised that andy burnett is a witness and not a suspect. so, what's new about the decking dispute? well, we now know it was

the subject of discussion in the havelock in the days before alistair�*s death, and we know that police are now interested in a specific person — someone we've not heard about before. we can't name this man, for legal reasons. what we can say is he lived in nairn at the time of the murder and worked for the emergency services. he's also linked to andy burnett on social media. i've come round the corner, just so i don't identify his old address, but neighbours have said he was a regular at the havelock and two of them have mentioned that he kept guns in his house in a locked gun safe, as he would be required to do under a licence. when alistair was murdered, police said the gunman was 30 to 40 years old. they've recently changed that age description. it's now 20 to 40. at the time of the murder, this man was 20.

someone who knew him told us he was a decent guy and certainly wasn't stocky, which was also a key part of the description of the killer. as we approach the anniversary of alistair�*s death, no—one has been charged. it's left a family scarred. i have been referred to as "the banker's son". i've had people in school say not very nice things about it and think that it's funny. ijust think people don't realise the effects of something like this. i've had over ten years of counselling and many fears — many fears of the dark, loud noises, being in the dark on my own. i don't think i'll ever get over it or understand it, but i can live with — well, i have to live with what has happened. are police now closing in on the answers the wilson

family so desperately need? it's hard to grasp what you're actually looking for as a answer because i don't know why people kill other people with a gun on the family doorstep while the children are upstairs. i don't know what sort of person i'm trying to find. for us as a family, yeah, we don't know why. this is just so senseless, you know? who and why would just make such a difference to us being able to move on. hello.

the start of december, meteorological winter, but a change in the weather type. we look back at autumn festival, milder and wetter than average, some parts of the country at the wettest november on record. temperatures are really interesting. the longest temperature records in the world by the central england temperature dating back to 1659. if we look at the main central, each month has been warmer than the average. 2022 so far, the warmest year on record, 18 consecutive months with temperatures above average. could that change for december? we are seeing a change in the weather. things are colder and probably a bit, as well. 0ver are colder and probably a bit, as well. over this weekend as we pick up more than an easterly wind things will start to feel a bit colder put into the middle of next week the winds becoming more down for

the night and that could bring some winteriness in the air, as well. less fog over the next few days. in the morning most of the fog will be across east wales, the west midlands and the west country. it will lift, moisten show moving into the midlands, eastern england show is near the coast. maybe sunshine across northern ireland, but still a lot of cloud across scotland. those temperatures again typically seven to 9 degrees on friday afternoon. there is a weather front approaching the four north—west of the uk, won't get any further because at the moment everything is getting p°pped moment everything is getting normed up moment everything is getting popped up at high pressure that extends across from scandinavia. a bit more sunshine probably on saturday but still some areas of cloud across ireland and wales. fewer showers coming across the eastern parts of england, may be somewhat in china scotland.

still, though, a lot of cloud across scotland. and those temperatures again typically seven to nine celsius on friday afternoon. now, there is a weather front approaching the far north—west of the uk. it's not going to get any further, though, because at the moment everything is getting blocked off by that high pressure that extends across from scandinavia. so we're going to find a bit more sunshine, probably, on saturday, but still some areas of cloud across england and wales. a few more of these showers coming in across some easternmost parts of england, maybe a bit more sunshine across scotland away from the north—west, where we've got more cloud and a bit of rain here. some brightness and a bit of sunshine for northern ireland. if anything, just a little bit colder, i think, on saturday, seven or eight degrees, and feeling colder still as the weekend goes on, as that easterly wind comes in. again it brings a mixture of cloud, some sunshine, a few more showers, maybe some snow over the tops of the scottish mountains there. most of the showers in the east, where we will see the stronger easterly wind. and temperatures probably six, seven degrees, that sort of numbers, but it will feel colder than that in the wind. and we keep that easterly wind going at least into the start of next week. a lower pressure sitting to the south of us,

over towards biscay. that's probably going to throw in more cloud across england and wales. it may well thicken the cloud. it could bring with it some pockets of rain around, too. further north, scotland and northern ireland more in that easterly flow with some sunshine, especially in sheltered western areas, but also a few showers. and again temperatures six or seven degrees for much of the country. tuesday again a bit messy. uncertainty as to how much cloud there will be for england and wales and how much rain there will be. a lot of places still do look dry, but really, across scotland and northern ireland, the signs of that colder northerly air beginning to come down and dropping the temperatures and beginning to bring a bit of wintriness in northern parts of scotland. so what we find, really, from the middle of next week is the winds coming more from greenland, if anything, pushing down colder air. within that colder air, there are some areas of low pressure that could get stuck across the uk. it is a colder, more blocked pattern next week. temperatures will be lower. it'll feel colder with stronger northerly winds. there may well be sleet and snow, particularly over hills in scotland and perhaps also in north—east england.

this is bbc news. our top stories. japan's joy — they beat spain in doha to reach the knockout stage of the world cup. it's fun to see, i cannot imagine we would win against spain. it's unbelievable, just a dream now. but huge disappointment for two of europes' big hitters — germany and belgium are out. 40 years after the disappearance of a woman in australia, her husband, who became the subject of a popular crime podcast, is jailed for 24 years for murder. another royal row over racism raises questions, as the woman accusing lady susan hussey of othering her at a formal event speaks out.

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