A retired police officer has expressed relief that a former gamekeeper, convicted of murder, is now serving time behind bars. Alan Stewart, 78, was unsurprised when he learned that Brian Low had been fatally shot near his home in Aberfeldy, Perthshire. Stewart immediately suspected that David Campbell, a former colleague of Low’s at the Edradynate Estate, was responsible for the crime.
This week, 77-year-old Campbell received a life sentence for what was described as the ‘brazen and brutal execution’ of Brian Low, a man he had worked alongside for many years. The sentencing took place at the High Court in Glasgow after a trial that spanned over two weeks.
Stewart, who previously served as a wildlife crime investigator, had encountered Campbell during investigations into alleged wildlife offenses on the expansive 4,000-acre estate. Despite these encounters, securing a conviction against Campbell had proven elusive until now.
The retired police inspector, who provided testimony during Campbell’s trial, remarked that Campbell had been ‘sailing very close to the wind for a long time’. Stewart believes that Campbell’s conviction is justified, stating, “He’s in exactly the right place now.”
Describing Campbell as a ‘vindictive character,’ Stewart noted that Campbell had often evaded consequences for his actions in the past, but justice has finally been served with his life sentence.
‘He’s a vindictive character who always seemed to get off with anything that he’s charged with.
‘At least this once for the most serious offence has ended in a conviction and a good sentence.
‘When I heard it was a murder, when I heard it was a shooting, immediately with the link with Edradynate and the fact it was a gun I thought: “Campbell’s got to be the guy here.”’
Brian Low, who was shot dead while walking his dog near Aberfeldy, Perthshire, in 2024
He first had involvement with Campbell in 1995 as a police inspector, and then again in the 2000s as civilian wildlife crime officer, as he investigated suspected bird poisonings on the estate.
Mr Stewart, who told the case at the High Court in Glasgow that in 1995 Campbell approached him at a game fair and told him ‘It’s great what vermin you see when you have not got a gun’, said it was not a great surprise to see the former head gamekeeper on trial.
He said: ‘It was a shock to find it was a murder, but I was quite sure he would be involved in different crimes that finish up in court, or that don’t finish up in court because there’s insufficient evidence, because he just thought he could get away with anything.
‘He was a chap who held grudges, and he thought he was pretty much untouchable.’
Campbell had appeared at Perth Sheriff Court in 2018 accused of deliberately sabotaging game crops by poisoning them to get back at estate owner Michael Campbell after losing his job.
However, he was acquitted of all charges, with a sheriff ruling the case against him had not been proved beyond reasonable doubt.
His home on Edradynate had been raided by police in connection to suspected bird poisonings before 2010, it was also revealed.
The charges were later dropped, but Campbell was convinced that he had been set up and that groundskeeper Mr Low had somehow entered his home and planted incriminating evidence.
David Campbell, a former gamekeeper, was jailed for at least 19 years for the murder of Mr Low at the High Court in Glasgow
Mr Low, 65, was murdered on February 16, 2024, and his body found the next day. But an extraordinary blunder saw his death marked as non-suspicious.
It took ten days for police to launch a murder investigation and it was only on May 24, some 18 weeks later, that Campbell was finally arrested. Prosecutor Greg Farrell dubbed it a ‘brazen and brutal execution’ which was a ‘cowardly ambush motivated by nothing more than sheer malice’.
Lord Scott, sentencing Campbell, gave the former head gamekeeper a life sentence with a minimum term of 19 years.
It means that given his advanced age the murderer is likely to die behind bars.
Jailing Campbell, Lord Scott said: ‘The bitterness and grudge you bore Brian Low, reflected in some of the things said to others, did not diminish.
‘In fact, it seemed to have become more intense.
‘This led you to carrying out the sort of killing referred to as a targeted assassination or pre-planned execution on a victim who was unaware of the fate to befall him.’
Campbell denied the charges but the jury saw through his special defence of alibi.
