Father-of-four guilty of murdering his brother-in-law

A vengeful father of four was today jailed for life with a minimum term of 28 years for murdering his brother-in-law and attempting to murder his wife and two other people during a shotgun rampage. 

Finlay MacDonald, 41, repeatedly stabbed his wife Rowena at their home on Skye after discovering 'flirty' texts from her boss before getting into his car with a pump-action shotgun, a 'couple of hundred' cartridges and a 'machete-type' knife. 

After the frenzied attack, MacDonald - who had amassed enough weapons 'to start a small war' - drove 10 miles to the village of Teangue, where he gunned down his brother-in-law John MacKinnon.

He then went to the Scottish mainland, trailed by police in marked cars, where he tried to shoot dead retired osteopath John Donald MacKenzie and his wife Fay, both 65, who despite their injuries managed to wrestle the gun off MacKinnon before he was arrested.

The High Court in Edinburgh heard the marine engineer - a fan of cowboy films - was planning to go out 'in a blaze of glory' after he went to 'sort out' Mr MacKenzie but was Tasered and struck with a baton by police after he opened fire on August 10, 2022. 

The court heard MacDonald had borne a grudge against his brother-in-law John MacKinnon since the pair had a violent falling out in 2013.

The killer's sister Lyn-Anne, who was outside on the driveway, told the court she saw his brother walking into their house with a gun before hearing bangs as he shot her husband several times.

A GP who lived nearby attempted to save Mr MacKinnon, but he died at the scene.

MacDonald then decided to target Mr MacKenzie because he had previously given him a treatment session which he said 'ruined his life'.

After arriving at his house, MacDonald shot Mrs MacKenzie in the face through the windows of the house and then shot her husband twice, in his front and side, before being Tasered and arrested by police who had trailed him to the property.

Mrs MacDonald, Mrs MacKenzie and Mr MacKenzie all survived their injuries, and gave evidence in court .

During the trial, MacDonald's lawyer had argued for his client to be convicted of the lesser offence of culpable homicide rather than murder in relation to the killing of his brother-in-law, saying his ability to control his actions had been 'impaired by reason of abnormality of mind'.

However after three-and-a-half hours of deliberation today, the jury found MacDonald guilty of one count of murder, three counts of attempted murder, and one count of possession of a shotgun 'with intent thereof to endanger life'.

Judge Lady Drummond sentenced MacDonald to life imprisonment and ordered him to spend a minimum of 28 years behind bars.

The court was shown footage of a police interview with MacDonald the day after the attacks during which he said he stabbed his wife in a 'moment of madness' and he then felt a 'total darkness come over me'.

A central focus of the 12-day trial was the extent to which MacDonald was in control of his actions during the rampage.

The court heard evidence about his mental state from two psychiatrists and two psychologists, who all agreed he suffered from autistic spectrum disorder and depressive disorder.

However prosecutor Liam Ewing KC said MacDonald's actions after he stabbed his wife - including the fact he drove to two different houses, was able to load and use a shotgun, and was able to select his victims - indicated he had been 'fully in control' of his actions when he murdered the osteopath.

Defending, solicitor advocate Shahid Latif said of MacDonald: 'He is sorry for what he did that day.

'He wishes he could undo and go back in time to try and stop himself. In particular he indicates he has failed his children. He wants them to know he is sorry.'

Advocate depute Liam Ewing KC said MacDonald was a man with 'a long standing problem controlling his anger' who had a deep set resentment against both his brother-in-law and the osteopath.

The prosecutor said: 'In the period before he murdered John MacKinnon the accused's health deteriorated. He was depressed and anxious about his job and his marriage.

'He had a deep rooted resentment against two men. He began to take steps to prepare for a violent attack, using a firearm, against one or both of them.' 

Mrs MacDonald told the court that, on the morning of the attack, her husband showed her pictures on his phone that he had taken of messages between her and a work colleague.

She said she assumed that he had read she was planning on leaving and that he thought she was also having an affair. 

Despite admitting the message came across 'a little flirty', Mrs MacDonald insisted she and the work colleague were 'just friends' and she told her husband that she was not involved with anyone else.

Addressing jurors, she said: 'He did seem to momentarily settle and put his phone in his pocket but it was shortly after he pulled out his knife from his pocket and started stabbing me.'

Mrs MacDonald was asked where he stabbed her and replied: 'Everywhere he could. I was absolutely terrified. It just kept coming and coming.

'I screamed. The children came to the door from the living room and saw it.' 

Eventually, she managed to get outside and made a 999 call and her daughter, who was eight, followed her and took over the call to the operator.

She told the court that her husband went on about his health every day during their marriage and became convinced that the osteopath he went to for treatment had 'ruined his life'.

She said: 'He would frequently say ''I am going to kill him. I am going to kill him for ruining my life''.' 

She said she assumed it was 'just talk' and told him to calm down.

The court heard that Mr MacKinnon, a 47-year-old distillery worker, had got into a fight with MacDonald when the killer threw a birthday present given to him by his sister back at her 'in a rage'. 

MacDonald's elderly father had to intervene to protect him and MacDonald was left feeling humiliated.

Following the fatal shooting MacDonald drove across the Skye bridge to the mainland with two marked police cars behind him. 

One of the following officers, Inspector Bruce Crawford, 40, said he requested permission to try and stop the Subaru driven by MacDonald but was told by the control room not to do so.

The court heard that the control room for the operation was in Dundee and armed officers were dispatched from Inverness to respond to the incident.

He said that after they stopped at a property in Dornie he saw the car driver with a shotgun before a woman came out of the house. He shouted at her to go back inside and lock the doors.

The inspector said the woman ran back inside and he saw the gunman bring the shotgun up to an aiming position on his shoulder before he fired through a window.

He shouted at him, telling him to put the gun down but MacDonald loaded the gun again before he went into the house. 

The officer followed him and heard two loud bangs and a woman screaming. He found the male occupant of the house bleeding heavily and grappling with the gunman.

He said the woman was trying to get him off her husband and struck the intruder with a metal toilet holder. The inspector said his colleague used a Taser on MacDonald and he struck him with a baton.

Mr MacKenzie said he previously had two treatment sessions with MacDonald who contacted him complaining of chest pain and respiratory problems and had been off work for a year.

Shain Westerman, a friend of MacDonald, said: 'He [MacDonald] said he was going to sort out John and when he did he was going to go out in a blaze of glory.'

Mr Westerman said he thought he had been watching too many cowboy films and was talking 'a lot of s***'.

The court heard that MacDonald got a firearms certificate 15 months before the fatal shooting and amassed a collection of six shotguns, with his most recent purchase being the pump action shotgun he bought in June along with 1000 rounds of ammunition.

MacDonald claimed that wrestling with his wife had sparked off the events that occurred and told police that he 'completely messed up'.

He told detectives: 'That's what started a really black sequence of events, just really total darkness.'

He said that after his wife 'pretty much said she didn't want me any more' he spent the night pleading and crying trying to convince her against that and telling her he would do anything it took to save the marriage.

He said he left after taking his shotgun and ammo box and added: 'I didn't know what I was going to do but I felt total darkness.

'I started thinking about who had brought me to this point. That's when I started thinking about the osteopath who injured me and my brother-in-law who battered me years ago, who had always bullied and been aggressive to me.'