A senior police officer has told how killer butcher Andrew Wallace finally revealed where he buried victim Julie Reilly’s body parts.
Detective Chief Inspector Mark Bell relived the moment Wallace eventually informed him where searchers could find the disabled gran.
The 41-year-old and hid her remains after attacking her in February 2018.
He was her at the High Court in Glasgow earlier this year.
Wallace only told Bell she was buried in a back court in the city’s Cessnock area in March.
Now Bell will appear in BBC documentary Murder Case and tell viewers how his team probed Wallace, including the moment he appealed to the double killer to reveal what he had done with Julie, during a visit to HMP Barlinnie.
In an interview with the Sunday Mail, he said: “I went up to Barlinnie, asked him to tell me where Julie was, and he told me.
“I was surprised he agreed to see me. I can’t just turn up and demand he comes out. I was honestly as surprised as most folks would think.”
Julie, 47, was described as vulnerable due to a brain injury and had difficulties with her memory.
Wallace murdered her in her Govan flat, then cut up her body and hid the remains in suitcases.
After she had been reported missing, Bell and his team stepped in to investigate the disappearance – finding evidence of the murder in the property and then recovering some bones at an address in the city.
Wallace, who had already been convicted of culpable homicide when he was younger, pled guilty to the
charge and was sentenced to 28 years in prison.
Bell said: “I know why he told me but I have to respect that as a private conversation. That word respect might seem strange for someone who has killed two people and had done what he did to Julie.
“It was a really unique moment, I’d never done that before – he was pleasant, there was no animosity or aggravation, it was just a really factual conversation and he gave me his rationale behind it and I accepted it.
“I went away and, within a space of a few hours, following his location and directions, we found her on the first go.”
The hunt for Julie will be shown over the first two episodes of the three-part BBC Scotland series, which begins on Tuesday at 10pm.
Bell said he was happy to appear on the show.
His team have the best murder-solving record in the UK – with only four unsolved from the 361 investigations in the past six years since Police Scotland was formed.
Bell added: “It’s very easy for me to trot out statistics like 361 murders but where’s the scrutiny?
“What we have done was difficult – it wasn’t easy but it was absolutely the right thing to do.”
