One man may have had sex with both World’s End victims
ONE MAN might have had sex with both Worlds End murder victims, a trial heard today.
Tests showed a matching DNA profile for semen found in both teenagers, said forensic scientist Martin Fairley.
But the tests carried out in mid-1995 could only narrow the DNA profile down to 1 in 2400 of the male population, he told the High Court in Edinburgh.
The trial has been hearing how medical samples and items found on the bodies of Christine Eadie and Helen Scott had been tested and re-tested since their bodies were dumped in East Lothian almost 30 years ago.
Scientific witnesses have described how techniques for extracting and profiling DNA have become more and more sophisticated since first used for crime-solving in the mid-1980s.
Mr Fairley, 45, based in police labs in Pitt Street, Glasgow, said he had some 17 years of expertise.
He said in 1995 he was asked to look at items connected with the Worlds End murders because, at that time, Lothian and Borders Police did not have a DNA lab of their own.
The tests then, known as STRs for Short Tandem Repeats or Quads only examined four areas of DNA compared with the ten areas examined today.
Was that the most up-to-date test in 1995? asked advocate depute Alan Mackay, prosecuting.
That was the test that was used everywhere in the United Kingdom at that time, said Mr Fairley.
He described how Christines blood could not give a DNA profile because it had been kept too long. But a result was obtained from her hair.
DNA was also extracted from a vaginal swab which had a different profile. The DNA profile is found in approximately one in 2400 of the male population, said Mr Fairley.
The scientist described how similar tests had been carried out on semen found in Helen Scott.
This DNA profile matches the sample taken from Christine Eadies vaginal swab, Mr Fairley told the trial.
Stains on the coat which was found thrown across Helen Scotts partially clothed body were also examined and again the DNA matched, the court heard.
Detective Constable Andrew Ritchie, 45, told the trial that on November 25 2004 he had detained Angus Sinclair and taken a mouth swab. On March 31 the following year, Sinclair was formally arrested and charged with the Worlds End murders.
Sinclair, 62, is now sitting in the dock at the High Court in Edinburgh where he denies raping and murdering the 17-year-old girls.
He claims that any sexual contact with the girls was with their consent and that his brother-in-law, Gordon Hamilton, was the killer.
The trial heard that in May 1997 further tests were carried out on the swabs taken from Christine and Helen and the results sent to the forensic science laboratory at Wetherby, Yorkshire to be added to the national data-base of unsolved crimes.
Mr Fairley also said that between June and August of 2004 he has involved in testing mouth swabs taken from members of the Hamilton family. By that time Gordon Hamilton who was 22 at the time of the murders in October 1977 had died.
It is alleged that Sinclair and Hamilton persuaded or forced the girls into a motor vehicle as they left a girls night out in the Worlds End pub in Edinburghs Royal Mile.
Christine Eadie was then, allegedly, driven to Gosford Bay, Aberlady, and there or elsewhere she was attacked, stripped and gagged with her pants. Her naked body was found the following day.
Later that same Sunday, Helen Scott was found in a field beside a B-road near Haddington.
Both girls had their hands tied and had ligatures round their necks.
The trial continues.
