of the vehicle.
However, Mr Coutts says that while removing Mr McCrae’s body from the car, PC Crawford’s cap had fallen into the burn. He said he bent down and retrieved it yet saw no sign of a gun.
The evidence contradicts statements made by former Solicitor-General Peter Fraser that the gun was found directly under the door of the car.
The case was closed formally by Mr Thomas Aitchison, the procurator-fiscal in Inverness, who decided the death was not suspicious. Mr Fraser made the personal decision not to order a Fatal Accident Inquiry into the death.
Last night Mr Aitchison said the case came under the Official Secrets Act and he had been reminded at his retirement four years ago that he was still bound by the Act.
”I was told notto Dounreay at the time of his death.
Mr McRae had won a notable victory against the UK Atomic Energy Authority in 1980 when he presented the principal legal opposition to plans to dump nuclear waste in the Mullwharcher hills, Ayrshire.
He was planning to repeat the performance at the inquiry to reprocess nuclear waste at Dounreay: his legal firm was named on the list of objectors.
Last night a colleague of Mr McRae claimed that on the night of his death he was carrying vital and confidential reports which showed glaring holes in Dounreay’s health and safety record.
The Herald was shown copies of these reports, which reveal problems with various parts of the nuclear facility including areas of weakness in Highly Active Analytical Cells and the discovery of a radiation