40 years on: fresh investigation into unsolved case of Aberdeenshire man murdered in Germany

The son of an Aberdeenshire man who was murdered in Germany 40 years ago has been given fresh hope of finding some answers about what happened to his dad.

Colin Adamson from Aberchirder, was discovered in the boot of a burned-out car whilst working in Celle, a village in northern Germany.

Just six days before Christmas on December 18 1983, his family received the horrifying news their husband and father had been brutally murdered.

Four decades on and his family are still left in the dark about what happened to the 33-year-old oil worker.

Now, Glasgow Caledonian University's Scottish Cold Case Unit will be reviewing the murder case which could uncover new information.

Colin's son, Evan Adamson, says he was "gobsmacked" when he found out his dad's case would be looked into 40 years on.

He said: "I'm delighted that it's being looked at, I'm hopeful to just get fresh eyes on it and see if anymore information can be found."

It's understood Colin had been to a bar or restaurant on December 17 and sometime during the night he was attacked - his body was later discovered in a burned-out vehicle.

The incident happened near a British Military base, which led to them becoming involved in the investigation alongside German authorities.

It's thought the motive could have been an attempted robbery as Colin was found with his watch and ring missing.

Evan explained there was also word of transient gangs going through the region at the time.

He said: "That's really all we know. Hopefully what this does is this just gives us - even if it doesn't give us the answer of who, it might give us the answer of why this happened.

"Everything that we know of my dad was that he was an extremely popular guy, a very friendly guy, and for him to be killed in these circumstances, that's what's mind-blowing. It was so aggressive, so awful what happened to him that we don't understand why this could have happened."

Colin spent years teaching in schools across the North East until he decided to make a career change into oil and gas, securing a job at Sedco.

It was on a work trip for Sedco where he was killed.

Evan described his dad as a well-loved character who was the "life and soul".

He continued: "I think that's what makes this so strange. In time gone by, if there had been any hint of trouble my dad was the kind of guy who could talk things down and for this to of happened, I think is one of the big questions why something so horrific happened."

Glasgow Caledonian University's Scottish Cold Case Unit will review the case as part of the International Cold Case Analysis Project which is a collaboration between universities and police forces.

The project provides a review service for cases involving missing and unidentified people and homicides.

Professor Lesley McMillan, co-director of the Scottish Cold Case Unit at Glasgow Caledonian University, said: “The Scottish Cold Case Unit will review the case as part of an International Cold Case Analysis Project (ICCAP), conducted in association with Locate International, Amber Alert Europe and a range of international partners.

“We will undertake a comprehensive review to identify any further investigative opportunities.”

Students from Glasgow Caledonian University have been involved with ICCAP since 2021 and have reviewed 18 cases to date.