Police chiefs have rewritten homicide inquiry guidelines after a detective failed to identify that a man had been murdered – but refuse to disclose the changes in case it ‘enables offenders’.
Former gamekeeper David Campbell was jailed for life in February for the murder of ex-colleague Brian Low in 2024 by shooting him on a Perthshire path before trying to cover his tracks. Officers had thought Mr Low’s death may have been related to a medical condition – and only discovered it was a murder after gun pellets fell out of his body bag prior to a post-mortem examination.
The Mail can reveal guidelines for detectives have changed – but Police Scotland refuse to disclose any detail. Brian Low was shot and killed as he walked his dog near his home in Perthshire. Former gamekeeper David Campbell was jailed for life for the murder.
Scottish Tory justice spokesman Liam Kerr said: ‘People deserve to know what changes the police have made to give them faith that such mistakes will never be repeated.’
In response to a query by the Mail under freedom of information laws, Police Scotland said it had ‘issued memorandums to staff which contain amended instructions in relation to Police Reportable Deaths and the Investigation of Deaths’. But the force refused to reveal the changes, saying the information requested is ‘exempt’, as its ‘disclosure would or would be likely to prejudice substantially the prevention or detection of crime and apprehension or prosecution of offenders’.
Campbell, 77, killed Mr Low, 65, as he walked his dog near his cottage in Aberfeldy. The Police Investigations and Review Commissioner probed Police Scotland’s handling of the case and a report was submitted to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS). The COPFS was contacted for comment.
