World's End Murders

A former police intelligence officer has claimed that World's End murderer Angus Sinclair is responsible for two further notorious unsolved killings.

Chris Clark, who served with the police for almost 30 years, has been working with journalist Tim Tate on a new book about Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe's "secret murders".
 
They believe Sutcliffe killed in Scotland while working as a long-distance lorry driver.
 
As part of their probe they looked into a possible connection with the notorious Templeton Woods murders.
 
Elizabeth McCabe, 20, was found dead in the woods on the outskirts of Dundee in 1980, only 150 yards from where the body of Carol Lannen, 18, was found almost a year earlier.
 
Mr Clark ruled out a link to Sutcliffe, but said the evidence points to Sinclair, the serial killer and rapist finally jailed over the World's End murders last year, being the culprit.
 
Vincent Simpson was tried for the Templeton Woods deaths in 2007, but walked free from the High Court in Edinburgh after a jury found him not guilty.
 
Now Mr Clark, who served in the police from 1966 to 1994, has said he believes police should "focus their attention on Angus Sinclair".
 
He said: "I am familiar with the murders of Carol Lannen and Elizabeth McCabe as I spent some time researching them.
 
"My own feelings are that a serial killer was responsible.
 
"Vincent Simpson wouldn't fit that bill because there was no evidence that he had murdered before or since.
 
"The police should instead be focussing their attention on Angus Sinclair."
 
Sinclair raped and murdered 17-year-olds Helen Scott and Christine Eadie after a night out at the World's End pub on Edinburgh's Royal Mile in October 1977.
 
He was handed a 37-year sentence last November after he was finally brought to justice for the crimes.
 
Mr Clark said: "Sinclair had a campervan which he took away on weekend and holiday fishing trips with brother-in-law Gordon Hamilton.
 
"On Monday November 19 1978 17-year-old Mary Gallagher was murdered and her body found at the foot of a 20ft wall near a footpath crossing waste ground between Flemington Street and Edgefauld Road in Springburn, Glasgow.
 
"Sinclair held a knife to her back, made her take off her clothes, strangled her with the leg of her trousers and slit her throat three times.
 
"Her handbag was mising.
 
"Sinclair would not be caught for another 23 years.
 
"On Wednesday March 21 1979 the strangled and naked body of Carol Lannen was found in Templeton Woods, which is close to Clatto Reservoir, which is a popular fishing venue.
 
"Her handbag and clothing would later be discovered some 80 miles away washed up on the riverbank of the River Don near Kintore, a popular salmon and trout river.
 
"On February 26 2980, almost a year after the murder of Carol Lannen, came the discovery of 20-year-old trainee nurse Elizabeth McCabe's naked, strangled body in Templeton Woods just 150 yards from Carol Lannen's murder.
 
"It would appear she had been choked to death with her own blue jumper, which was similar to the Mary Gallagher method.
 
"Her handbag and shoes were later found thrown away some three miles away in Cobden Street, on the route to the River Tay and Tay Bridge.
 
"My personal thoughts are that these are Sinclair's crimes."
 
Detective Superintendent Bobby Hendren, of Police Scotland's Homicide Governance and Review department, said: "The murders of Carol Lannen and Elizabeth McCabe initially formed part of the Operation Trinity investigations that led ultimately to the conviction of Angus Sinclair for the World's End murders.
 
"In both cases all investigative opportunities were explored and there were no charges brought in relation to the Dundee murders.
 
"As with all unresolved crimes, these two murder investigations are subject to periodic review and any new evidence identified by or broughty to the police's attention will be fully investigated."
 
More than 7000 people were interviewed during the investigation into the Templeton Woods killings.
 
In 2004 items were sent for DNA analysis and the following year Vincent Simpson was detained at his Camberley, Surrey, home over the deaths.
 
He stood trial in 2007, but was found not guilty after his defence team pointed out flaws in DNA evidence presented by the Crown.