A criminologist claims to have evidence that could overturn what he says is one of Scotland's longest-running miscarriages of justice.
Professor David Wilson has identified a man, now in his 80s, who he suspects murdered 23-year-old typist Margaret McLaughlin in Carluke, Lanarkshire, in 1973.
George Beattie, who served 15 years of his life sentence after being convicted of the attack in which Margaret was stabbed 55 times, has always protested his innocence.
And now Wilson, a professor of criminology at Birmingham City University, has written a book in which he points the finger at another man, who lived a few streets from the woods where the murder took place.
Wilson spent two years
investigating the case before confronting the suspect on his doorstep. He has now sent his evidence to Police Scotland, urging them to reopen the case.
He said: “I have clear and convincing evidence that a man who served 15 years in jail is
innocent of the crime for which he was convicted.
“The man I identify as the more likely perpetrator of this horrific murder still lives in the town and has been free to walk the streets for the past 47 years.”
Wilson, who grew up in Carluke, was urged to investigate the case by his three elder sisters, who were never convinced of Beattie’s guilt.
His book, Signs of Murder, is due to be published later this month.
Beattie, a local loner, was convicted after telling police Margaret was killed by men wearing top hats decorated with mirrors while he was forced to watch.
His story was used to convince jurors that he had special knowledge of the crime scene.
In 1983, his case was taken up by the BBC’s Rough Justice show, which exposed massive inconsistencies in the prosecution case.
Beattie lost an appeal against his conviction in 1994 and was
unsuccessful again in 2008, when his case was referred to the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission.
Wilson claims the jury weren’t told that Beattie had a history of making up wild and fantastical stories.
He said: “I interviewed the world’s leading expert on memory and confession, who dismissed his pseudo confession.”
Having satisfied himself of
Beattie’s innocence, Wilson then identified likely suspects.
After tracking down and talking to about 20 people, only one person remained as a possible suspect.
The man who Wilson believes is responsible, who can’t be named for legal reasons, left Carluke shortly after the killing. But a private detective tracked him down in the town.
Wilson went to confront him. He said: “He got very, very angry and said, ‘Why does Beattie just not admit it?’
“So I said, ‘Well maybe because he didn’t and many people in the town think that you did’, to which he replied, ‘I don’t know what happened’. It was spine-tingling.”
