THE death of Willie McRae following a car crash in a remote part of Scotland is one of the most enduring mysteries of the last four decades.
Despite a serious fire in his Glasgow flat on Good Friday, 1985, McRae later made the 175-mile drive to his holiday home in Dornie, Ross-shire.
The following morning, his maroon Volvo was found by two Australian tourists. The car was lying over a burn on remote moorland at Bunloyne near Glenmoriston having left the A87 road. He had been lying there for about 10 hours.
McRae was rushed by ambulance to Raigmore Hospital, Inverness, and then transferred 100 miles to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary where a gunshot wound was discovered during a routine examination.
READ MORE: 'I saved Willie McRae from a fire before he died - but police never spoke to me'
His life support machine was turned off with the agreement of his family including brother Fergus on the Sunday.
That same day, police found the gun used in the fatal shooting lying in the burn where the car had rested.
It was an unlicensed Smith & Wesson revolver belonging to McRae.
A police investigation concluded he had committed suicide and no Fatal Accident Inquiry was held at the request of his family.
However, in the 36 years since his death there have been persistent claims that McRae was the victim of foul play and a subsequent establishment cover-up.
It was further alleged that McRae had been under surveillance by both the police and intelligence services at the time.
In the early 1980s he had been a key figure in a campaign against the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority plans to dispose of nuclear waste in the Mullwharchar area of the Galloway Hills.
READ MORE: Willie McRae documentary sparks calls for new inquiry into SNP activist's death
In the days before his death the lawyer was said to have evidence of government plans to build an underwater burial site at Applecross, Wester Ross, to store all of the United Kingdom’s nuclear waste.
McRae told friends that both his office and flat had been broken into in the past and papers stolen.
Six years ago, a crowdfunded “Justice For Willie” group was set up and two experienced former police detectives were hired to re-interview original witnesses from the time of McRae’s death.
Their investigation, which was published in November 2016, was unable to find any new evidence to undermine the official suicide verdict.
They discovered McRae had been suffering from depression, drinking heavily, and had previously threatened suicide.
However, in January this year there was renewed interest in the case when The National reported calls by filmmaker Roderick Mackenzie for a fresh inquiry.
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