Willie McRae mystery to take centre stage
THE mysterious death of SNP activist and lawyer Willie McRae is back in the spotlight following a new turn in the 29-year-old riddle.
Mr McRae, a prominent anti-nuclear campaigner, was found dying in his car on a lonely road on his way to his cottage near Dornie in Wester Ross in 1985.
Police who attended the scene treated it as a straightforward car crash and assumed Mr McRae (61) had suffered a head injury. But later, in hospital in Aberdeen, an X-ray revealed a bullet lodged in his brain.
His own revolver was found at the scene, with no fingerprints on it. Many are convinced that Mr McRae was murdered by the security services because of his investigations into the nuclear industry and his radical view for the times.
Now north-based writer George Gunn, who has researched the McRae case for the past 29 years, has produced his own account of the final hours of the activist’s death.
It takes the form of a play which will run for a month at the Edinburgh Festival next month, putting the riddle of Willie McRae’s death centre stage once again.
George Gunn (58) said: "It’s a story I’ve been wanting to write since 1985 because I’ve always been consumed by the whole thing from the instance it happened. The whole business of Willie McRae being found off the A87 and a bullet discovered in the back of his head hours later. The question is – what happened? The gun was found some distance away. I don’t believe he could have killed himself so somebody must have – but who? I thought there was a terrible sense of injustice and violence about it.
"You have to remember what was going on in the country at the time. The miners’ strike ended at the beginning of March 1985 and Willie’s death was in Easter the following month. I think people forget what Scotland was like during the miners’ strike – it was a hell of a time and I think Willie McRae was collateral damage. The security services were out of control and I think what happened to Willie McRae was part of that whole thing."
Mr Gunn, who is based in Thurso near the former Dounreay nuclear plant, said Mr McRae was due to give evidence at a public enquiry in Thurso about Dounreay, and the activities of Nirex, the state body set up to monitor the nuclear industry.
Mr Gunn said: "He never got there. Before his death he had been telling anyone who would listen that he ‘had something on them’. I think he knew too much of the truth about the nuclear industry. I think that the state at the time were good at killing people and making killing look like suicide."
Mr Gunn stressed that although his play was based on the Willie McRae case, he has fictionalised the characters. The play, Three Thousand Trees, runs from August 1–24 in Edinburgh. The fascination with the McRae case shows no signs of abating – a third of the 1,500 tickets have already sold.
"A play finds its day eventually and I think that in this, the year of the Scottish independence referendum, this is the day for this play," said Mr Gunn.
Ross-shire MSP Rob Gibson said there were strenuous efforts at the time by politicians, including former lawyer Winnie Ewing, to get answers and to have a public enquiry, but the authorities refused.
"The handling of the case was such that it left many unanswered questions and it’s no wonder there has been ongoing speculation about Willie’s McRae’s death," he said.
"Willie McRae was working on nuclear matters and the anti-nuclear campaigner Hilda Murrell died in England in circumstances which were not totally explained around the same time and the two cases were being linked.
"There are loose ends and people want to see them tied up. But the Willie McRae questions don’t seem to go away."
Police Scotland said the case was currently closed and it would only be reopening it if asked to do so by the Crown Office. The Crown Office was unable to comment in time for the North Star’s deadline.
