A former head gamekeeper has been found guilty of murdering an ex-colleague with a shotgun on a country track.
David Campbell, 77, killed Brian Low on February 16, 2024, after disabling CCTV cameras at his home in the Scottish town of Aberfeldy in an attempt to conceal his whereabouts.
Both men had worked at Edradynate Estate in Perthshire, where Campbell was head gamekeeper between May 1984 and February 2018, while Mr Low was a groundsman between August 2000 and February 2023.
Campbell carried out the attack on Mr Low at Leafy Lane near Pitilie “having previously evinced malice and ill-will towards him”, leaving him so severely injured that he died at the scene.
Mr Low was shot at about 4.52pm on February 16 and his body was found by a local man at about 8.30am the following day.
Campbell was found guilty today following a trial at the High Court in Glasgow and was sentenced at the same court shortly afterwards.
He was jailed for life with a minimum term of 19 years.
Following the verdict, Detective Chief Superintendent Lorna Ferguson said she had apologised to Mr Low’s family personally for failings in the investigation, which led to his death being treated as non-suspicious for five days.
David Campbell travelled to the scene of the killing on his wife’s e-bike
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COPFS/PA
This was despite the fact he suffered around 30 injuries from shotgun pellets and that pellets fell from his body bag when it was brought to a mortuary.
Judge Lord Scott described the killing as an “appalling and senseless act of extreme wickedness”.
He told Campbell: “You didn’t encounter Brian Low by chance that day and you didn’t happen to have a shotgun with you.
“On the evidence, the jury decided that it was proved beyond reasonable doubt that in a carefully premeditated act, you murdered an unarmed and defenceless man by discharging a shotgun at him, causing him such severe injury that he died where he fell.”
David Campbell drove his wife’s e-bike to the scene armed with a shotgun
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COPFS/PA
Lord Scott also referred to victim impact statements from Mr Low’s partner Pam Curran and brother Douglas Low. He said his murder had had a “profound and lasting” impact on his family.
He told Campbell he had “robbed” Ms Curran of the chance to say goodbye to Mr Low, and that a friend had told her that since his death “the spark has gone out of her eyes”.
The judge added: “Brian Low’s family are left with only questions, not least why anyone would want to murder him so callously.”
Campbell, who appeared in court dressed in a dark-coloured suit, showed no reaction as the sentence was handed down. He also blew a kiss to the public gallery as he was being led away.
During the nearly three-week trial, the court heard Campbell had harboured a “festering grievance” against Mr Low, believing him to have planted evidence on the estate to frame him for the alleged illegal poisoning of birds of prey.
On the day of the murder, after disabling the CCTV cameras at his home, Campbell travelled to the scene of the killing on his wife’s e-bike, wearing a “hooded jacket” and armed with a shotgun carried in a bag slung on his back.
In his closing speech on Friday, prosecutor Greg Farrell told the jury: “There, using his shotgun he shot Brian Low, hitting him on the face, chest and neck, and left him for dead.
“Brian Low was out with his dog Millie, going about his ordinary peaceful life. 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.
“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.”
Campbell initially faced a total of eight charges but on Friday seven of these were withdrawn, leaving just the single charge of murder.
He had denied murder, claiming he was at home in Aberfeldy at the time of the murder, but this was rejected by the jury.
Speaking after the verdict, Moira Orr, who leads on homicide for the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, said: “Brian Low’s murder was a shooting deliberately carried out by David Campbell, who has shown no remorse for his reprehensible actions.
“It was an act of malicious intent. This has been a traumatic ordeal for all those affected by Campbell’s shocking crime.
“The circumstances of Brian’s death are deeply distressing and have had a profound effect on the Aberfeldy community.”