Brian MacKinnon, who became internationally known after returning to his former school as a pupil 13 years after leaving, was behind bars last night after launching a terrifying death-threat attack on his former university professor.
MacKinnon ambushed Professor Brian Whiting and his wife at their home and threatened to kill them just hours after the academic’s comments about him appeared in a BBC broadcast of a film starring actor Alan Cumming.
MacKinnon first made headlines across the world in 1993 when he posed as a 16-year-old Canadian student called Brandon Lee and re-enrolled at his old school.
The extraordinary deception saw the then 30-year-old taught by several of his former teachers.
He had left Bearsden Academy in 1980 to study at the University of Glasgow, hoping to become a doctor. However, he was asked to leave after failing his examinations twice.
MacKinnon then devised an astonishing plan to return to school as an adult, resit his Higher examinations and secure a place to study medicine at Dundee University.
Brian MacKinnon posing as a 16-year-old at his former school
Brian MacKinnon pictured as a teenager
Remarkably, the deception worked and he began a medical degree. But his scheme collapsed in 1995 when his real identity was discovered, prompting Dundee University to expel him.
Last week, a court heard that MacKinnon, now 63, had carried a decades-old grudge against Professor Whiting, the former dean of the University of Glasgow’s medical school whom he blamed for ending his hopes of becoming a doctor.
Professor Whiting, 87, and his wife Marlene, 83, endured what was described as a ‘terrifying’ ordeal after a masked MacKinnon hid inside their home for nine hours, entered their bedroom during the night and threatened to kill them.
As the couple lay in bed, MacKinnon demanded that the retired academic publicly acknowledge an alleged conspiracy to prevent him from studying medicine.
The High Court in Glasgow heard that the intruder, dressed in dark clothing and wearing a mask and grey cap, ordered ‘no lights’ as he entered the couple’s bedroom.
Prosecutor Eilidh Robertson told the court: ‘Mrs Whiting sat up and MacKinnon demanded that she lie down or he would really hurt her.
MacKinnon captured on camera in Glasgow four years ago
Professor Whiting pictured in 1995
‘MacKinnon then addressed Brian Whiting directly, blaming him and two colleagues for ruining his life and claiming they were responsible for the deaths of his parents.’
Professor Whiting had discussed MacKinnon in a 1995 interview after the school fraud came to light. At the time, he said: ‘He was asked to leave after he had been given every possible chance of succeeding, including a second-year resit, which he then failed to complete successfully.’
The interview was later used in the 2022 docudrama My Old School, in which Hollywood actor Cumming portrayed MacKinnon.
BBC Scotland broadcast the film at 10.15pm on September 27 last year. The following day, an angered MacKinnon carried out the terrifying raid on the couple’s home.
During the intrusion, he demanded that Professor Whiting withdraw his earlier comments and claimed he had a network of spies monitoring the couple. He warned that they ‘would be dead’ if they failed to follow his instructions.
On Thursday, MacKinnon pleaded guilty to attempted extortion and was remanded in custody at Glasgow’s Barlinnie prison.
MacKinnon failed his exams while studying medicine
The Crown accepted not-guilty pleas to five other charges, including possessing two push daggers and an unlicensed stun gun, as well as a breach of the peace.
Judge Lady Anwar told him: ‘You subjected Mr and Mrs Whiting, both in their 80s, to a shocking and terrifying ordeal in their own home. It is likely you will receive a significant custodial sentence.’
Professor Whiting told The Mail on Sunday that he had not heard from MacKinnon during the 30 years since the hoax was exposed. His wife described the break-in as ‘terrifying’.
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She said: ‘What happened was completely out of the blue. We are trying to live a quiet and peaceful life, and this incident has completely disrupted it. It was terrifying.’
The court heard further details of the raid on the Whitings’ home. MacKinnon entered the property in Glasgow’s leafy west end at about 4.30pm on September 28.
Professor Whiting was working in his study while his wife was in the garden, and the back door had been left unlocked.
MacKinnon remained hidden inside the house for nine hours. At about 1.30am, the couple woke to the sound of their bedroom door opening. He entered the room saying ‘no lights’ and threatened to hurt Mrs Whiting unless she lay back down.
Ms Robertson told the court: ‘The Whitings were extremely frightened by this point. MacKinnon then pointed towards her husband and asked: “Is that Brian Whiting?”’
MacKinnon said he had brought two statements that he wanted the couple to ‘release’.
‘He said that if they did not comply, and if the media were not involved, they would both be killed and their families would be harmed,’ the prosecutor said. ‘He then placed two envelopes containing typed statements on the bed.’
Mrs Whiting did not know the identity of the intruder until he told her that he was ‘Brian MacKinnon’.
Ms Robertson said MacKinnon then blamed Brian Whiting and two colleagues for ruining his life and claimed they were also responsible for the deaths of his parents. He briefly left the bedroom before returning and unexpectedly asking to be allowed out of the house.
Mrs Whiting rose from the bed and led him downstairs, hoping he would leave.
The pensioner was able to see MacKinnon clearly after he removed his mask. The advocate depute said: ‘She unlocked the front door. As MacKinnon left, he said he had people working for him who would check whether the witnesses were complying with his demands.
‘If they were not, they would be killed. He then left the property.’ Mrs Whiting called her son, who showed her an online photograph of MacKinnon. She confirmed that he was the intruder.
The two statements MacKinnon left behind had been written to appear as though Professor Whiting had completed them.
Both claimed that the retired dean had ‘succumbed to intolerable pressure to make a misleading statement about Brian Lachlan MacKinnon’.
They also stated: ‘Via a BBC Scotland television broadcast, I falsely claimed that MacKinnon had failed to meet the required standard as a medical student after he set out to study medicine at Glasgow in 1980. Nothing could have been further from the truth.’
The documents alleged that a ‘conspiracy’ had been created to exclude ‘incandescently bright’ students such as MacKinnon.
They also contained ‘defamatory’ comments about Glasgow University, BBC Scotland and Alan Cumming. Police arrested MacKinnon after he returned to his home in Milngavie, East Dunbartonshire, several hours after the raid.
Officers found a mobile phone and three notebooks inside the property. One contained handwritten words stating: ‘I will regain a place to study medicine at a reputable university’.
Police also seized an envelope containing a statement similar to those delivered to the Whitings.
MacKinnon made no comment during police questioning.
He appeared in court in a wheelchair on Thursday. His lawyer, Sean Templeton, told the hearing: ‘It is clear he has led an extraordinary life, having been thrust into the public gaze in the 1990s after attending a school when he was over the age of 18.’
He said MacKinnon had always wanted to work in medicine in order to ‘assist the public’, but that his ‘ambitions to become a doctor came to an end’.
Mr Templeton said the scandal had ‘characterised’ his client’s life for decades after his deception was exposed. He added that MacKinnon had not agreed to the Alan Cumming production.
MacKinnon was assessed by a psychiatrist after his first court appearance in late September 2025 and was found fit to stand trial.
Mr Templeton described his client as ‘frail’ and said he suffered from uncontrolled movements in one arm.
Lady Anwar ordered that MacKinnon remain in custody. Sentencing was deferred until reports have been prepared.
