Murder Trial: Death of a Dog Walker - what did David Campbell do and where is he now?

The BBC air many intriguing true crime documentaries across their channels, with recent outings of The Mother of All Cons and The Beauty Queen and the Cat Fish sparking conversations and leaving viewers utterly shocked.

Adding to the BBC iPlayer catalogue of documentaries delving into the circumstances surrounding crimes carried out in the UK, Murder Trial: Death of a Dog Walker airs from Tuesday August 11 on iPlayer and BBC Scotland, and from August 12 on BBC Two.

Across two episodes, Death of a Dog Walker looks at the murder of former estate groundsman, Brian Low.

After going out to walk his dog Millie in rural Perthshire, Brian was later found dead by a fellow dog walker after being shot.

He was found in the middle of the countryside, with no witnesses, and no forensics linking a suspect to his shooting.

His neighbour and ex-gamekeeper David Campbell was later accused of his murder. But it wasn't a straightforward case, as legal teams battle potential missed forensic opportunities, while trying to build a clear picture of a decades-old feud between David and Brian that could've resulted in murder.

What did David Campbell do?

On February 17, 2024, Brian Low was found dead in a place called Leafy Lane, after walking his Labrador Millie - the dog was by his side when his body was discovered.

Incredibly, policemen arriving on the scene didn't realise the 65-year-old had been shot and thought his injuries had been caused by falling - paramedics also failed to spot gunshot wounds.

Six days passed before a medical examination concluded the actual way Brian had died, despite shotgun pellets having fallen from the body bag before his post mortem.

The examination of his body found multiple holes in his clothes after he'd sustained around 30 pellet injuries.

The delay in ascertaining Brian's cause of death meant there was no cordon put around the scene of the crime until six days after his body was found, and a murder inquiry wasn't launched until 10 days later.

This meant that evidence such as footprints near his body, tyre tracks and CCTV could've been missed or damaged.

David Campbell, now 77, was eventually arrested, but the prosecution faced struggles to build a case against him due to the issues with potentially missed evidence.

This led to a circumstantial case during the trial, linking smaller strands of evidence to piece together why David would have shot Brian - his partner of 22 years, Pam Curran, said of Brian, "I don't think he had a bad bone in his body."

However, it turns out David Campbell had a longstanding grudge against Brian Low. The pair had worked at the Edradynate Estate together for over 20 years, and witnesses described a "coldness" between them, with David saying he "loathed" and "hated" Brian.

David Campbell really fell out with Brian Low following an investigation into birds of prey being poisoned at the estate.

David's house was raided when his involvement was suspected in the alleged poisonings, and he accused Brian of "planting" items at to home to implicate him.

Pam Curran says of the incident, "Whatever Brian had said to the police really angered Dave and they had a right set-to. Brian wouldn't tell me the ins and outs of it, but I knew it was bad. Brian was really upset by it."

After working at Edradynate for over 30 years, David was "removed" from the estate in 2017. It's believed that in the seven years between him leaving the estate and Brian's death, David had been planning to kill him.

On February 17, 2024, David was captured on footage from his own doorbell camera, putting duct tape on it to cover it.

CCTV footage later captured a person on an e-bike near the crime scene, wearing a long bag that could have contained a shotgun. Although he denied it was him, a similar bike was later found at David's home, belonging to his wife, Elizabeth.

The day after the shooting, David had taken a bike to have new tyres fitted. The shop owner told him that the existing ones were perfectly fine and didn't need replacing, but he insisted.

It's believed David wanted the tyres changed because he cycled to the scene of the crime and would've left bike tracks in the mud, linking the bike to the murder. A soil analysis did then show traces of soil and vegetation taken from the pedals supported the theory that the bike had indeed been near Leafy Lane.

Elsewhere, more CCTV showed a startled horse in a field near the crime that could've been spooked because of a gun shot.

With mounting evidence stacked against him, when David was eventually arrested for Brian's murder, he denied any involvement and refused a solicitor, insisting he "didn't need one."

Following a 15-day trial at Glasgow's High Court, David Campbell was found guilty of murder.

Where is David Campbell now?

David Campbell remains in prison, after being sentenced to life - he has been ordered to serve a minimum of 19 years before he's eligible for parole.

Pam couldn't be present for the verdict to be delivered. "I couldn’t go in for the verdict because I didn’t know how I would react," she says.

Pam adds, "That verdict is not going to make it better, but it could make it a hell of a lot worse," continuing, "You don’t feel happy because you think it’s lives ruined. It’s not just my life, he’s ruined his own family’s life."

Judge Lord Scott said, "David Campbell, you’ve been found guilty of the murder of Brian Low.

"It may be that given serious errors in the early stages of police inquiries, you thought initially that you had literally got away with murder. If so, you were wrong."

Brian’s older brother, Douglas, who attended every day of the trial, simply said, "Brian meant so much to us."

Murder Trial: Death of a Dog Walker airs from August 11 on BBC iPlayer and BBC Scotland, and from August 12 on BBC Two. Both episodes will drop on BBC iPlayer on Tuesday August 11 at 6am.