The strange and unexplained death of Nicholas Randall in the Scottish Highlands

Scottish HighlandsMountain DeathsBridge of Orchy ScotlandNicholas Randall

Dec 31

Nicholas Randall Scottish highlands death

Nicholas Randall, disappeared April 25, 2005, Edinburgh. Body found 2008, Auch Forest near Bridge of Orchy, Argyll, Scotland.

Revised July 2024

Suffering from depression, 30-year-old Nicholas “Nick” Randall decided to drive off from his family home in Edinburgh on April 25, 2005. He headed for the Scottish Highlands to avoid burdening his parents. He was never seen alive again.

Nick vanished in 2005 after buying a sleeping bag in a store in Edinburgh and withdrawing £500 from an ATM. The last confirmed sighting was at the Tiso Outdoors Shop on Rose Street, and after that, he seemed to vanish. Nothing was heard for two and a half months until his Silver Audi A2 was found in the Glen Nevis Waterfall car park near Lochaber. Police believed he was living in the wild hills in the area, especially as he was an experienced climber and hiker, having bagged many of the Scottish mountains called Munros.

In the following months, there seemed to be some sporadic sitings, including some walkers at Glen Tilt in Perthshire and Blair Castle Caravan Park, where a man matching Nicholas' description had asked to pitch his tent. But after that, nothing.

His body was finally found in 2008 by forestry workers in the Auch Forest near Bridge of Orchy, Argyll, in a pitched tent. The location was around 47 miles from where the car was located. The case was quickly closed by Strathclyde Police, who suspected no foul play, but the revelations of an ex-cop, Kenny McKechnie, 47, changed all that when he accused former colleagues of a cover-up to save money.

When Randall's tent was discovered, two sleeping bags, a holdall, different-sized boots and two sets of clothes in rucksacks, as well as a used condom, were found. Also, what was said to be a "shallow grave" was found in the vicinity of the tent by an off-duty police officer sometime before the discovery of the tent.

Questions relating to the Randall case

Police investigators assumed that Nick had succumbed to the elements and died in his tent from hypothermia. His mental health issues would have lessened his chances of survival in the cold Scottish winter. But the evidence is puzzling - the shallow grave, the sets of clothes.