Former Gamekeeper Convicted of Murder in Planned Shotgun Ambush
A retired gamekeeper has been found guilty of murdering his former colleague with a shotgun, having hunted him down "like quarry" in a brutal rural ambush. David Campbell, 77, was convicted by a majority jury verdict at the High Court in Glasgow on Wednesday for the killing of Brian Low, 65, on 16 February 2024.
Festering Grievance Led to Fatal Attack
The court heard during a nearly three-week trial that Campbell harboured a "festering grievance" against Mr Low, believing his former colleague had planted evidence to frame him for the alleged illegal poisoning of birds of prey on the Edradynate Estate. Both men had worked at the estate, with Campbell serving as head gamekeeper from May 1984 to February 2018, and Mr Low working as a groundsman from August 2000 to February 2023.
Prosecutor Greg Farrell told the jury in his closing speech: "This was a brazen, brutal and planned execution at a rural spot, a cowardly ambush motivated by nothing more than sheer malice." He added: "David Campbell was an expert shot. He hunted Brian Low down like he was quarry."
Elaborate Planning and Concealment Attempts
Before carrying out the murder, Campbell disabled CCTV cameras at his home in Aberfeldy, Perth and Kinross, in an attempt to conceal his whereabouts. On the day of the killing, he travelled to the scene on his wife's e-bike, wearing a hooded jacket and carrying a shotgun in a bag slung on his back.
CCTV footage from the afternoon of 16 February showed a hooded cyclist at 4.18pm heading down a road towards the track where the shooting occurred at Leafy Lane near Pitilie, and then returning the other way shortly after 5pm. Mr Low was out walking his dog Millie when he was ambushed and shot in the face, chest and neck.
"Brian Low was out with his dog Millie, going about his ordinary peaceful life," Farrell told the court. "He was left to die on that track alone. That shotgun blast killed him within minutes, or perhaps seconds. Brian Low had no chance. He was unarmed and unaware."
Investigation Errors and Forensic Evidence
Mr Low's lifeless body was discovered by a local man around 8.30am the following day. His death was initially deemed non-suspicious - which one police witness later accepted had been a "glaring mistake" - and it was not until five days later that police began treating it as murder.
This was despite forensic evidence showing Mr Low had suffered approximately 30 injuries from shotgun pellets, with pellets falling from his body bag when it was brought to a mortuary. Campbell attempted to conceal evidence by changing the bicycle's tyres in the days following the killing, but soil samples taken from elsewhere on the bike confirmed it had been at the murder scene.
Trial Proceedings and Verdict
Campbell initially faced eight charges, but seven were withdrawn on Friday, leaving only the single charge of murder. He had denied the murder charge, claiming he was at home in Aberfeldy at the time of the killing, but this alibi was rejected by the jury after more than two days of deliberations.
The 77-year-old appeared in court dressed in a dark suit and showed no visible reaction as the guilty verdict was read out. Campbell is due to be sentenced later on Wednesday, facing a mandatory life sentence for the murder conviction.
The case has highlighted both the deadly consequences of long-held workplace grievances and initial investigative failures in rural crime scenes. The conviction brings some closure to a case that shocked the Perthshire community and exposed the dark side of rural life where professional disputes escalated into fatal violence.
