Man cleared of murdering girls in Edinburgh 30 years ago

A double killer and paedophile was cleared yesterday of raping and strangling two teenage girls in Edinburgh almost 30 years ago after a judge said it could not be proved that he was involved.

Semen traces from Angus Sinclair, now aged 62, were found on the bodies of Christine Eadie and Helen Scott, whose disappearance from the World's End pub in October 1977 led to one of the UK's longest investigations.

The teenagers were found bound, gagged and raped at separate locations the morning after they left the pub with two men.

The High Court in Edinburgh heard that although it was likely that Sinclair had sex with the two 17-year-olds, there was insufficient evidence that he was responsible for their deaths. Sinclair blamed his late brother-in-law, Gordon Hamilton, whose DNA was also found on the girls.

Sinclair, 62, has been serving a life sentence for killing 17-year-old Mary Gallagher in November 1978. He also has a string of convictions for sexual offences including the sexual assault and strangulation of eight-year-old Catherine Reehill in 1961.