Police investigating dog walker's murder 'didn't find gunshot wounds for a week' | UK News

Police investigating dog walker’s murder ‘didn’t find gunshot wounds for a week’ | UK News

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Crime scene after man shot dead
Police began to treat the death as a murder enquiry a week after Brian Low’s body was found (Picture: PA)

Police investigating a man’s murder classed his death as a ‘medical event’ because they didn’t find his gunshot wounds until a week later.

Brian Low, 65, was found dead after walking his dog on a remote country path near Aberfeldy, Perthshire, in February.

But Police Scotland classed his death as a ‘medical event’ for a week and didn’t launch a murder enquiry until a week later, when they finally found gunshot wounds on his body, Sky News reports.

It’s thought the officers who failed to spot the gunshot wounds could face a misconduct inquiry.

Police Scotland admits it still has no suspect or motive for the killings, and the force is facing claims of a botched investigation.

A team of 30 officers is working on the case, and they have reportedly visited 478 properties and interviewed more than 800 people as part of the nearly three month long investigation.


Police at the scene in the Pitilie area on the outskirts of Aberfeldy, Perthshire after 65-year-old Brian Low was found dead next to his dog, he had suffered a fatal gun shot wound. Picture date: Thursday February 29, 2024. PA Photo. Mr Low was shot at about 8.30am on Saturday February 17, police said. Emergency services attended but Mr Low, from Aberfeldy, was pronounced dead at the scene. See PA story POLICE Low. Photo credit should read: Andrew Milligan/PA Wire
Mr Low’s death was treated as a ‘medical event’ for a week (Picture: PA)

Police at the scene in the Pitilie area on the outskirts of Aberfeldy, Perthshire after 65-year-old Brian Low was found dead next to his dog, he had suffered a fatal gun shot wound. Picture date: Thursday February 29, 2024. PA Photo. Mr Low was shot at about 8.30am on Saturday February 17, police said. Emergency services attended but Mr Low, from Aberfeldy, was pronounced dead at the scene. See PA story POLICE Low. Photo credit should read: Andrew Milligan/PA Wire
The force is facing accusations of a botched investigation (Picture: PA)

The week-long delay in declaring a murder inquiry is being examined by Scotland’s police watchdog, The Police Investigations & Review Commissioner (Pirc).

Former superintendent Martin Gallagher, who retired from the force in 2022, says vital clues could have been lost and the killer could have even returned to the scene of the crime, given the area was not cordoned off for days after Mr Low’s body was found.

He told Sky News: ‘You’ve had officers attend a crime scene who have misidentified what has happened. There are questions to be asked about their ability and about their conduct.

‘Police Scotland made a mistake at the start which is very unfortunate, but that happens.

‘Police Scotland will learn from this and hopefully a training programme will be looked at in terms of how we deal with crime scenes initially in terms of homicide.’

A spokeswoman for the force said: ‘The circumstances have been referred by Police Scotland to the Police Investigation and Review Commissioner.

‘It would therefore be inappropriate to comment further.’

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

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