Jury Tours World's End Murder Sites

23 October 2014, 15:41

Jurors in the trial of a man accused of murdering two teenage girls 37 years ago are visiting various sites linked to the case.

The panel of nine women and six men are going to several locations in East Lothian on the eighth day of the trial of Angus Sinclair.

The two spots where the bodies of Helen Scott and Christine Eadie were found are among the places to be visited.

Sinclair, 69, denies raping and murdering the girls, both 17, and has submitted three special defences.

The teenagers were last seen at Edinburgh's World's End pub on October 15 1977.

Christine's body was found on the afternoon of October 16 that year at Gosford Bay in Aberlady, while Helen's body was discovered later that day in a field near Haddington.

Today, the jurors were taken by coach from the High Court in Livingston, West Lothian, on a journey of more than an hour to the first stop in East Lothian - the St Germain railway level crossing.

The whole court - including the accused, judge Lord Matthews, prosecutor Lord Advocate Frank Mulholland and defence QC Ian Duguid - travelled in convoy to the various sites.

Yesterday, the court heard that the visit was taking place at the request of the jurors, who wanted to see certain specific sites for themselves.

Addressing the panel today, Lord Matthews said they would be able to take notes on the visit but would not be allowed to carry out their own investigations at the sites.

He added that the route taken by the bus to the different areas was of no particular significance.

Sinclair's special defences are incrimination - blaming his brother-in-law Gordon Hamilton, now dead; alibi - saying he was fishing on the banks of the Firth of Forth near Cockenzie power station at the time; and consent to sexual intercourse.