2014/11/19

Edingburgh News November, 2014: CSI torch that helped crack World’s End case

THE horrific murders of Helen Scott and Christine Eadie set in motion a long and challenging police investigation which would span decades, involve thousands of interviews and hours of detective work.

Police worked tirelessly to crack the case, passing down evidence and theories from one generation of officers to the next.

But this old fashioned detective work – talking, probing, pushing for answers, hunting down clues and acting on sheer instinct borne from years of experience – could only take the investigation so far.

And eventually the major breakthrough would come thanks to a very modern form of detective work, The key to finally securing Sinclair’s guilt came in the form of what could only be described as a glorified torch. Unavailable at the time of the first World’s End trial, Crime-Lite uses LED (light-emitting diodes) to produce high-intensity light of varying wavelengths.

Once shone on a piece of evidence – such as a murder victim’s coat or the knotted tights used to bind hands – potential DNA glows like a neon beacon, directing forensic scientists towards areas to check which, otherwise, they could never have spotted. In the case of the World’s End murders, it would reveal evidence which would prove impossible for a jury to ignore. Angus Sinclair and brother-in-law Gordon Hamilton’s DNA was, it turned out, splattered virtually everywhere.