Safer communities

Death of Graham Wright – three people arrested

Three people have been arrested following the death of 38-year-old Graham Wright in Glasgow.
On Saturday, 13 September 2025, officers were called to the Rubha Dubh, near Firkin Point, at Loch Lomond, after human remains were discovered.

47-year-old Linda Kelly and 50-year-old David McColl were both charged in connection with murder and appeared at Glasgow Sheriff Court last month. They made no plea and were remanded in custody.

53-year-old John Roarty appeared at the same court charged in connection with attempting to defeat the ends of justice.

Extensive enquiries remain ongoing.

Death of Lewis Cuthbert

On Tuesday, 4 November, 2025, the body of a man was recovered from the River Clyde, near the Pacific Quay area of Glasgow.

The man was identified as 25-year-old Lewis Cuthbert, who was reported missing from Strathaven 13 weeks ago. His family has been made aware and are being provided with support.

Enquiries are ongoing to establish the full circumstances.

Death of Robert Best - six people arrested

A murder inquiry has been launched following the death of Robert Best in Inverclyde.

On Tuesday, 11 November, we were called to a report of a body found in a field near Kilmacolm. Robert, 50, was reported missing from Greenock on the same day.
Two men, aged 44 and 51, have been arrested and charged in connection with Robert’s death and attempting to defeat the ends of justice. Both appeared at Greenock Sheriff Court on Wednesday, 12 November and made no plea and were remanded in custody.

Two women, aged 41 and 64, have also been arrested and charged in connection with attempting to defeat the ends of justice. They appeared at the same court on Wednesday, 19 November, and made no plea and were released on bail.

A 41-year-old man, who was arrested in connection with the death, has been released pending further enquiries.

A 45-year-old man, who was arrested in connection with assault, has also been released pending further enquiries.

We are providing Robert’s family with support as our investigation continues and officers are appealing for further information. The Major Incident Public Portal (MIPP) has also been set up where the public can contact Police Scotland anonymously.

Death of Natalie Egan - man arrested

A 26-year-old man has been arrested and charged in connection with the death of 37-year-old Natalie Egan in Dundee.

Around 7.25am on Friday, 31 October, emergency services attended a report of a fire at a property in the Byron Street area.

The fire was extinguished and Natalie, who was within the property, was later pronounced dead. Following a post-mortem examination, her death is being treated as murder and her family is being supported by specially trained officers.

Callum Miller appeared at Dundee Sheriff Court on Monday, 3 November. He made no plea and was remanded in custody.

Death of William Lambie - woman convicted

In April 2024, officers were called to a property in Dundee following a reported assault and attempted robbery in relation to 97-year-old William Lambie.

Mr Lambie was taken to hospital to receive treatment for his serious injuries but died a month later.
Tandy Swinton, aged 44, was found guilty of culpable homicide at the High Court in Edinburgh on Tuesday, 21 October.

Murder of Stuart McGeachie - two men convicted

Two men have been convicted of the murder of 38-year-old Stuart McGeachie, during an attack in Rutherglen in October 2023.

At the High Court in Glasgow on Monday, 27 October, 29-year-old Callum Cummins-Summers was convicted following a trial and 24-year-old Craig McColl pled guilty.

Murder of Ross MacGillivray - three people convicted

Two men have been convicted of the murder of 36-year-old Ross MacGillivray in Inverness in November 2023.
Leon Headey, 23, and 30-year-old Craig Hayden pleaded guilty at the High Court in Glasgow last month. Samantha MacGillivray, 33, also admitted attempting to defeat the ends of justice.

Murder of Claire Leveque - man sentenced

On Sunday, 11 February, 2024 emergency services were called to the Sandness area of Shetland and discovered Claire Leveque, a 24-year-old Canadian national, with a number of serious injuries. Claire was pronounced dead at the scene.

Aren Pearson, 41, who had been Claire’s partner, was arrested and an investigation commenced which also established a prolonged period of domestic abuse and controlling behaviour.

Pearson was found guilty of murder and assault following a trial at the High Court in Edinburgh on Wednesday, 15 October, for his cruel abuse and murder of Claire. He was sentenced to life and ordered to serve a minimum of 25 years behind bars.

Murder of Keotshepile Naso Isaacs - man sentenced

On New Year’s Day in 2024, emergency services were called to an address in the Craigleith Avenue area of North Berwick following a disturbance.

Keotshepile Naso Isaacs, 33, who was known as ‘Naso’, was found with multiple stab wounds and pronounced dead at the scene.

Naso’s husband Mompati Dodo Isaacs, 39, was found guilty of her murder following a trial at the High Court in Edinburgh on Wednesday, 17, September 2025 and was later sentenced to life with a minimum of 21 years’ imprisonment.

Murder of Stephen Gray - man sentenced

A 33-year-old man was sentenced this month to 20 years in prison for the murder of Stephen Gray in Glasgow in November 2023.

Officers were called to a block of flats in the Govan area after a man was found with a knife wound to his chest. Paramedics attended but tragically, the 23-year-old was pronounced dead at the scene.

Following investigation, Gavin Gallagher was arrested and charged the next day in connection with Stephen’s death.

He was sentenced to life at the High Court in Glasgow on Wednesday, 8 October, 2025.

Death of Callum Pollock - man sentenced

A 35-year-old man was convicted of murdering Callum Pollock in Troon in July 2024.
James Thomson was found guilty of killing 22-year-old Callum Pollock on Thursday, 30 October, following a trial at the High Court in Glasgow.

Officers were called to a report of a man having been seriously injured within a property in the town. Callum was pronounced dead at the scene and Thomson was arrested and charged in connection with his death.

This was a shocking and violent attack which has resulted in the death of a young man. Thomson will now face the consequences of his actions. Such violence is not tolerated in our communities and our officers will continue to work tirelessly to bring those responsible to justice.

Murder of Jamie Lucas - man sentenced

A 22-year-old man has been sentenced to 18 years and six months in prison for the murder of a 33-year-old Jamie Lucas in Airdrie.

In December 2024, Jamie was on a night out in Airdrie when he was stabbed in the street by Brandon McLachlan following an argument. Jamie was taken to hospital but died a short time later. McLachlan was arrested and charged in connection with his death.
Op Portaledge - five arrests

Since my last report, a further five people have been arrested and charged under Operation Portaledge, an investigation into targeted attacks in the East and the West of the country, taking the total number of arrests to 62.

Extensive enquiries by the dedicated team of officers from our Specialist Crime
Division, who are being supported by local policing officers, are ongoing with the public continuing to play their part.

A man was also sentenced to six years and nine months in prison last week after officers investigating Operation Portaledge recovered a firearm in the Roseburn Path area of Edinburgh in June of this year.
25-year-old Liam McDermid plead guilty to the serious organised crime offence at the High Court in Edinburgh in October.

Operation Koine – three people arrested

Three people have been arrested and charged in connection with an investigation into the mishandling of cremated remains and funeral plan fraud in Dumbarton and Glasgow.

On Wednesday, 19 November, officers from Police Scotland’s Operation Koine team, with support from colleagues from North Wales, executed search warrants at an address in the Flint area of Wales. A 58-year-old man and 38-year-old woman were rearrested.

On the same date, officers arrested a 58-year-old woman in the Bishopbriggs area of Glasgow.
Reports will be submitted to the Crown Office Procurator Fiscal Service in due course.

Serious sexual offending - man sentenced
James Clacher, who fled abroad after being accused of sexual offences, was sentenced to eight years in prison. The 57-year-old had been reported missing in May 2022 and was traced in Spain in May 2024 and arrested on an international warrant before being returned to Scotland to face trial.

He was found guilty of the serious sexual assault of two women in August 2019 and September 2020 following a trial. He was placed on the Sex Offenders Register and given a 10-year non-harassment order.

This was a complex investigation spanning Europe. Extensive enquiries were carried out after Clacher was reported missing and it later became clear that he had faked his death and left the country in an attempt to evade justice. This case clearly demonstrates our commitment to investigating serious crimes and pursuing those who try to evade prosecution, no matter where they go.

Operation Leste

We continue to see a high level of protest and counter protest across the country every week.
Officers are policing around 42 protests every week, with around 300 officers deployed. They work with professionalism to balance and uphold rights in difficult circumstances, while minimising disruption.
Earlier this month we saw the first anti-immigration protest take place in Inverness, which shows the spread of demand and impact of geopolitics and civil unrest across the country, reaching communities where protest activity is not common.

Local policing officers continue to be supported with national resources, shared learning and specialists such as protest liaison officers.

We are proud of our approach but the relentless challenge of carefully managing such intense and fragile issues has an impact on officer wellbeing and resourcing.

Operation Machinize

We visited almost 200 premises across Scotland to target high street businesses involved in money laundering and other criminality as part of the UK-wide Operation Machinize.

This was an intelligence-led initiative, where officers from Police Scotland worked alongside partners within the Serious Organised Crime Taskforce to visit barbers, vape shops, nail bars, mini markets and car washes which encourage customers to use cash as payment to avoid paying tax and duty.

We know that much of this activity is being undertaken by serious organised crime groups and operations such as this can lead to the identification of other serious criminality such as human trafficking or modern slavery.

Drink and drug driving festive enforcement campaign

During December we will carry out our annual festive drink and drug driving enforcement campaign.

Driving after taking drugs or alcohol destroys lives. Last year, we recorded 961 drink and drug driving offences over the festive period and carried out a record number of roadside tests.

Every day we have officers carrying out enforcement and educating drivers.
We continue to work closely with the Scottish Government and support their campaign aimed at young drivers to encourage behaviour change. Partnerships are a critical part of road safety.

Drug driving wipes

Drug drivers are more likely to be caught as roadside testing kits have been rolled out to local policing officers.

Training has been delivered as part of a pilot to give local policing officers in East Ayrshire and North Aberdeenshire the ability to use Drug Wipe – a mouth swab drug detection kit – which will give an instant result to check for cannabis and cocaine.

Drug driving offences have risen by 60 per cent in the past three years and is now almost higher than drink driving.

Roadside Drug Wipe was introduced in Scotland in 2019 and has been only available to road policing officers.

I’d like to thank the ongoing support of Scottish Police Authority Forensic Services as we look to give officers an additional tool to help keep people safe on the roads.

We will report on the results of the pilot after it ends in March next year.

Review of policing of a protest

On Thursday 4 September, For Women Scotland (FWS) undertook a pre-planned protest outside of the Scottish Parliament. Individuals from Cabaret Against the Hate Speech (CATHS) engaged in a counter protest
Police officers were in attendance and, following a report of a broken umbrella, we recorded a crime of vandalism with an individual later invited to discuss the offer of a recorded police warning.

As part of a broader review of the policing of the morning, it has been established that no crime was committed and we have written to the individual to apologise and offer further engagement.
Our review has also identified learning and recommendations in respect of communication between divisions and departments, governance around crime management and briefing around policing options during protest and counter protests. We will share and implement learning as required.