Latest news with #JohnMacKinnon
The Independent
08-05-2025
- The Independent
Skye gunman loses bid to appeal against murder conviction
A man jailed for murdering his brother-in-law and attempting to kill three other people during a shotgun rampage has been refused leave to appeal against his conviction. Finlay MacDonald, 41, carried out the spree of violence on the Isle of Skye and the Scottish mainland on August 10, 2022. The attacks began that morning when the father-of-four repeatedly stabbed his wife Rowena at their home in Taskarvaig on the island's Sleat peninsula. He then drove to his brother-in-law John MacKinnon's house in the nearby village of Teangue and shot him, leaving him with fatal injuries. A GP who lived nearby attempted to save Mr MacKinnon but he died at the scene. After murdering Mr MacKinnon, MacDonald then drove to the house in Dornie in Wester Ross, on the mainland, where his osteopath John MacKenzie lived with his wife Fay and shot them both. He was jailed for life and ordered to spend a minimum of 28 years behind bars when he was sentenced at the High Court in Edinburgh in November last year. His lawyers later indicated MacDonald intended to appeal against his conviction. However court officials confirmed on Thursday that MacDonald's appeal against conviction had been refused at second sift – a legal process where judges decide whether an appeal can proceed. Sentencing MacDonald in November, Judge Lady Drummond said his crimes were 'brutal and mindlessly violent' and perpetrated on victims 'in their own homes, where they had no opportunity to escape'.
BBC News
08-05-2025
- BBC News
Skye shooter Finlay MacDonald loses bid to appeal murder conviction
A man jailed for carrying out a series of shootings in the Scottish Highlands has had his appeal against his murder conviction MacDonald, 41, was given at least 28 years in prison for murdering his brother-in-law and attempting to kill his wife and two other people in August repeatedly stabbed his wife Rowena at their home on Skye before driving 17 minutes to another village, where he shot and killed his brother-in-law John marine engineer then drove for another 40 minutes before shooting and injuring Fay MacKenzie and her husband John in their home in Dornie on the Highland mainland. The Scottish Courts and Tribunal Service said MacDonald's appeal was refused at second sift - a legal process where a senior judge or sheriff decides whether or not to grant permission for an appeal to proceed. During his trial last year, father-of-four MacDonald denied all the charges against him and claimed he was suffering from an abnormality of mind at the was found guilty by a jury in November at the High Court in lawyers later indicated his intention to attacks took place over a period of about an hour, starting before 09:00 on Wednesday 10 August first incident was in the MacDonalds' family home in Tarskavaig on the Sleat a row, he stabbed his then went to his sister Lyn Anne MacKinnon's home in nearby Teangue, where he shot her 47-year-old husband John in the kitchen. Back injury He then headed for the home of John MacKenzie - a retired osteopath who MacDonald blamed for making a back injury he arrived, he shot 65-year-old Mrs MacKenzie through a window of the house. He then shot Mr MacKenzie in the back while he tried to protect his couple then tackled MacDonald just as police arrived. One officer struck him with a baton while his colleague used a trial heard that at the time of the attacks, MacDonald was affected by autism and post traumatic stress disorder with depression, anxiety and a personality disorder in the told a consultant forensic psychiatrist that he had difficulties dealing with people and situations and he saw himself as a victim.
