Killer tormented victim and family

Kathleen Linn at her husband's memorial service

A judge has told the man who murdered salesman Gary Linn that he subjected his victim to torment and inflicted untold agony on his family.

Lord Emslie said Owen Anderson's nine-month concealment of the body was "an act of desecration" and he showed evil disregard for Mr Linn' wife and children.

Kathleen Linn last saw her husband, Gary, on 31, August, 2001.

In the nine agonising months that followed, the 40-year-old mother-of-three, did not know whether her husband was dead or alive.

Gary Linn: "A brilliant father"

There were no clues as to why an ordinary family man should suddenly disappear.

A few weeks after her husband's disappearance, Mrs Linn, from Kilsyth in North Lanarkshire, told a news conference that her husband was a "loving, caring man who loved his kids."

She said: "He would never, never just go away like this."

She spoke of her three sons, now aged five, 10 and 12, who asked her every day: "When is daddy coming home?"

Five weeks after Mr Linn's disappearance, Mrs Linn said she still had hope that he would be found alive.

Two months later, in December, she said she had come to realise that she would never see her husband again.

Mrs Linn said she believed that her husband was dead and hoped that he could be "finally laid to rest by those he loved".

"Hoping and praying"

But the tool salesman's wife had to live through another five months not knowing where her husband's body was.

In April, family and friends gathered for a memorial service, to give thanks for Mr Linn's life.

Mrs Linn told the congregation: "Nobody knows what I have gone through in the past seven months.

"Most nights I cry myself to sleep - hoping and praying that Gary will be found and we can put him to rest properly. We miss him more and more each day."

The Linn family held a memorial service

She spoke of her 16-year-long marriage and added: "He was not just my husband, he was also my best friend. And he was a brilliant father.

"For the rest of my life, I will never forget him."

A few weeks after the service, Mr Linn's body was found near a river bridge in Temple, Midlothian.

It was close to the spot where Mr Linn's Mercedes van was found burned out just 24 hours after he disappeared.

'A total nightmare'

Mr Linn's funeral was held in June - 10 months after he disappeared.

Owen Anderson, 30, went on trial accused of murdering Mr Linn and dumping his body.

Mrs Linn gave evidence on the first day of the trial at the High Court in Glasgow.

She told the court her life, since her husband's disappearance, had been: "a nightmare, a total nightmare".

She said: "We tried to convince ourselves at first that he was being held somewhere but as the searches went on for him I knew at the back of my heart that he was dead but I couldn't accept that."