FOOTAGE has emerged of an interview with the brother of Willie McRae which seems to back up potential new evidence at odds with the official findings in the mysterious case.

Former family doctor Fergie McRae, pictured below, said he closely examined his brother as he lay unconscious in hospital shortly before he died in April 1985 and described the fatal bullet wound as being at the back of his neck under his hairline.

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His interview appears to confirm information given to The Sunday National last month by intensive care nurse Katharine McGonigal, who said the wound was at the back of Willie McRae’s neck, suggesting he had been murdered.

The statements from both contradict the finding of the post-mortem report which stated the bullet entrance wound was on the right temple, pointing to suicide.

Police initially believed Willie McRae had been injured in a car accident until the bullet wound was found when he was taken to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary from Raigmore Hospital, Inverness.

During the TV interview Fergie McRae is clearly seen pointing to where he saw the wound, indicating it was under the hair on his neck.

He said: “The consultant [in the Aberdeen hospital] took me and interviewed me and dropped a bombshell that they had discovered a bullet wound to his head. And he still wasn’t dead.

“And I saw [Willie] and went in and of course, being the professional man I wanted to see. And you know, you could hardly see. You can’t blame the police for not seeing this. You could hardly see the entrance wound.

“It was just in there [pointing to the back of his neck] and there was hair all over it. It was a tiny little wound, no exit wound. And then he died the next day.”

The rare interview with Fergie McRae was conducted for the Unsolved series on STV and broadcast in November 2006.

The interview was handed to The Sunday National this week by Donnie Blair, 71, a former businessman and close friend of Willie McRae.

Blair came forward after reading our exclusive interview last month with McGonigal, 56. She worked at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, also know as Foresterhill Hospital.

READ MORE: Nurse who treated Willie McRae: It wasn't suicide, he was shot

She said she treated McRae and discovered the bullet wound at the back of his neck.

A Crown Office report released under freedom of information in 2012 said: “On arrival, at about 7.40pm, [McRae] was examined by a neurosurgeon, who found a bullet entry wound with surrounding swelling immediately behind the right eyebrow.The bullet entry was found to be in the right temple. The post-mortem examination confirmed Mr MacRae had a bullet entrance wound in the temple, suggestive of suicide.”

McGonigal told The Sunday National: “The entry wound was right at the back of the neck. There was no exit wound. It was smaller than a one penny piece and it was directly aimed at the brain stem.”

Donnie Blair

Fergie McRae’s statement that the wound was on the back of his brother’s neck was not regarded as significant by the programme makers in 2006.

This may have been because he could have been unaware the postmortem report said the wound was on the right temple.

The GP has always been satisfied with the official explanation that his brother had taken his own life. He was unable to speak to The National when we tried to contact him.

Fergie McRae and Katharine McGonigal gave their accounts independently and have never met, nor spoken. McGonigal was unaware of the interview McRae gave until told about it this week.

David Coutts, pictured below, a passing motorist and SNP councillor who knew McRae, and who helped police officers at the scene, is another potential witness to dispute the location of the wound given in the post-mortem report.

He told The National last month he did not see a bullet wound on Willie McRae’s right temple when he helped him out of the car.

Last night Blair, who brought the interview with Fergie McRae to the attention of The National, remembered his friend as a talented lawyer and politician and doubted he had taken his own life.

“I was really shocked when I found Willie had passed away. It was not something anyone had anticipated. He was such a dynamic character and so well connected. I still think it was very odd. Here was a major political player, a bullet wound was found in his head and there was no fatal accident inquiry. It was very peculiar.”

McRae left his flat in Glasgow on April 5, 1985, to drive to his cottage near Dornie in Wester Ross. But his crashed Volvo saloon was discovered by two tourists the next day on a moor near Invergarry off the A87.

He was a former vice-chair of the SNP and a prominent critic of the nuclear industry. His campaigns rattled the Conservative government of the time. His activities included representing a group opposed to plans by the Atomic Energy Authority to dump nuclear waste in the Ayrshire hills.

He successfully represented them at a 1980 public inquiry.