For there before him, scrawled on the inside of the plasterboarding, was a gruesome message.

Imitating an inscription more commonly found on a gravestone it read: "In loving memory of John Tooties Q.C. who died on the 12th Day of March. Foul Play Suspected. 1958. 4ft below he lies."

Jonathan found himself faced with the horrifying prospect that a murder had been committed, possibly on his premises, with the victim buried deep beneath his floorboards.

He decided after some hesitation to treat it as a joke and continued with the renovations, but at the same time put the word out in the hope of an explanation.

Now after some investigation, the Northern Times can finally reveal who Tooties is, the meaning of QC and whose hand wrote that message.

And the tale that has been uncovered is a fascinating one of a bygone, more innocent age, an era where folk worked hard but at the same time enjoyed tremendous "crack'" without the aid of computers, PlayStations, Sky TV, Nintendos or other electronic gizmos.

Tooties is the nickname still used by none other than 70-year-old John Sutherland – better known as Ian – who did not die of foul play, but instead is very much alive and well and living with his wife Louise in Reedley near the Lancashire city of Burnley.

He is not and never has been a Queen's Counsel but instead is a hardworking and well respected, if somewhat mischievous, father of three who built up his own successful building business.

As a boy growing up in Golspie, he gained the nickname Tooties after he had 14 teeth extracted in one go.

He remembers: "I had very bad teeth as a youngster and one day the school dentist came and took 14 out. Afterwards I just lay on the settee at home hanging over a basin and it just turned red. I nearly bled to death.

"The boys were saying: 'Oh you've lost your tooties,' and it just started off from there. As nicknames go, I think it's quite a good one.

"Dentists were like butchers in those days and you got no warning. I was off school for a couple of days. I was only about 10 and it was an awful thing."

When that message was written nearly half a century ago, Tooties was a 20-year-old apprentice joiner working for family firm J and J Nicol which is still going strong to this day.

"They say I was the wickedest lad that ever served his time in Nicols. I was always up to mischief and devilment. We had great times. It was absolutely brilliant," he recalls.

He worked 14 hour days, sometimes not returning home until eight o'clock at night. In what little spare time he had, Tooties played for Brora Rangers.

"We worked throughout the county. Sometimes we'd be sent off without a moment's notice and without even a toothbrush or a towel. We might not return home for six weeks," he says.

The gruesome graffiti that gave Golspie postmaster Jonathan Creed pause for thought.

"I always say I saw Sutherland backwards because we would sit at the back of the lorry going home."

Full of vim and vigour and the simple joy of life, Tooties and his fellow workmates spiced up their day with harmless banter and nonsense.

And one of their favourite pastimes was to scrawl messages on plaster or walls which were going to be covered by wallpaper or partitions.

"We came across it all the time ourselves. We'd pull a wall away and shout: 'Hey! Look at this – so and so was working here in 1858' or some such date. We always found it very interesting and I suppose we learned from that," he says.

So when Tooties and the rest of the Nicol's crew were undertaking work at Golspie Post Office, the sight of a blank canvas which was about to be covered up, was just too great a temptation.

But who actually wrote the message? Tooties swears it wasn't him and flatly refuses to name the culprit. But relatives of his, including his sister Doreen who lives in Tain and his cousin Brenda Melville of Golspie, say it has all the hallmarks of a typical Tooties practical joke.

And why the QC? "We were forever giving ourselves titles. I'm no better today. I'm hoping to grow up one of these days. I just like nonsense. If anything happens, then everyone automatically turns round to me and says: 'It's him!'"

Tooties left Golspie and moved to Fort William when he married his wife Louise, a teacher. He says the union between a joiner and a teacher was looked on with scepticism by some, but the couple celebrated their 44th wedding anniversary this year.

He says: "My wife married me because I made her laugh, and I've been doing that for a while now. We went to a wedding recently and they were announcing the names of the guests as they went in. I said to Louise: 'Brace, yourself, we are Lord and Lady Sutherland.' She said to me that if I did that, then she was off. That kind of thing just appeals to me. I'm a frustrated Lord!"

From Fort William the couple moved south where Tooties established his own building business and they brought up two sons and a daughter.

He is a frequent visitor to Sutherland and says he could not think of a better place to have grown up.

"I have great affection for the Highlands and could not have had a better start in life. Serving my time with Nicols was a wonderful experience. I went back home when old Nicol was still alive. I went to see him one night and I thanked him for letting me serve my time. He said: 'No, it was down to you. I simply gave you the opportunity.' But without the brilliant guidance I got, I would not be where I am today."

But Tooties warns that if the message found at Golspie Post Office created a stir – that's nothing to what may be lying in wait for unsuspecting householders or businesspeople embarking on a bit of DIY.

"If you think that's bad, then there's years of that to come! My only hope is they all come out when I'm dead. It's been 50 years since that was written at Golspie Post Office. It's incredible it's come out now."

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