A former buddy of banker Alistair Wilson, who was visited by Scottish police in Canada, spoke of his shock when he was dragged back into the murder investigation.
Former hotel boss Andy Burnet, 55, started a new life as a handyman in Windsor, Nova Scotia.
But a team of Scottish detectives flew in to ask him questions about the tragedy in Nairn, Moray, almost 18 years ago.
They spent four days studying his statement, as well as trying to find out if he had any connections with the person they are currently targeting.
And while he’s keen to help get a result for Alistair’s widow Veronica and their two sons, he said he didn’t like the past digging up again.
Andy said: “I was surprised.
“We are not hiding here, but we are trying to get away from it. This is not what we want.
“We understand that Veronica has her own problems.
“Her sons are old enough to understand what was going on at the time.
“But times have changed. They are so different now.”
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Andy ran the Havelock Hotel in Nairn, just meters from the doorstep where Alistair, 30, was gunned down by an unknown shooter.
The guys were friends and played golf together before paddling over a racket made by the players at Andy’s bar.
Andy and his wife Lynn, 48, moved to Canada in 2013 because she is from there.
He now runs a real estate company and, among other things, helps clear driveways during the long winters.
Earlier this year Scottish police officers contacted him and had several video chats with him before asking for a proper interview.
He offered to return to the UK, but they said they would rather fly to him, and agreed with the local horses about the flight.
Andy said: “They had a plan for what they wanted to talk to me about.
“They spoke to us at home, not at the police station, which was very good of them.
“They were meticulous and checked everything they thought I could help them with.
“Obviously it was a one-time deal. They’re not going to keep flying back and forth.”
Andy told how they wanted to reconsider his statement given immediately after Alistair’s execution in 2004.
But they also spoke of a man who might have been among his circle of friends in Nairn.
He said, “They were discussing something with me that I really don’t want to talk to you about.
“It had nothing to do with me, other than someone they thought I might know. I didn’t really know them. I think they got the information they were looking for.”
Despite not wanting to revisit this horrific incident, Andy vowed to do everything he could to try and bring the killer to justice.
He said, “I don’t feel sorry for myself.
“If I can help the police in their investigation because they have new information, I will help them.
“Someone out there knows something, and I will do my best. I’m always here in any form.”
We told how the police went to Canada to talk to Andy last month.
Alistair was shot three times on his doorstep while his children were sleeping upstairs.
The shooter handed him a blank blue envelope marked “Paul” and pulled the trigger.
A distraught Veronica ran to the Havelock Hotel for help after the incident.
Last month, officers reported that two men with guns had been spotted on Nairn Beach weeks before the incident.
Detective Superintendent Graham Mackie said: “Recent investigations by Police Scotland detectives in Canada have been an important part of the Alistair Wilson murder investigation and have provided officers with additional avenues to investigate.
“Time is no bar to justice and we remain committed to bringing the person responsible for his murder in 2004 to justice.
“I encourage anyone with any information, no matter how small or insignificant it may seem, to come forward and talk to the detectives.
“Please don’t assume that the police already know the information you have.”
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