'Totsie' appeal man freed

McPhee is led into court where he was granted bail

A man has been freed pending an appeal hearing after spending 18 years in jail for a murder he claims he did not commit.

George McPhee was jailed for life in 1985 for the killing of Elizabeth "Totsie" Sutherland at her home in Culbokie, Ross-shire, the previous year.

His case was referred to the Court of Criminal Appeal in Edinburgh after an investigation uncovered new evidence.

McPhee, 48, has consistently maintained he was the victim of a miscarriage of justice.

But Mrs Sutherland's husband, Kenny, told BBC Radio Scotland that he remained convinced McPhee is guilty of the murder.

On Wednesday, Lord Cullen said the court was "minded to grant" McPhee interim liberation pending a full hearing of the appeal and continued the application for bail overnight to check details of his proposed address.

The 48-year-old was freed on Thursday morning.

His counsel told the court that new evidence had been uncovered which undermined "all the main planks of the Crown case".

Doubts were raised about the credibility and reliability of evidence given by a senior detective.

Discovered by daughter

Other evidence raises questions about the testimony of key witnesses who helped to secure his conviction by a majority verdict at the High Court in Inverness, it is claimed.

Mrs Sutherland, a mother-of-two, known as "Totsie" because she was only 4ft 9ins tall, was repeatedly stabbed in the chest and had her throat cut.

Her body was discovered by her 10-year-old daughter when she returned from school.

McPhee had been brought up a few miles from the scene but was living in England at the time of the murder.

The full appeal hearing is not expected to take place for at least six months.

McPhee's counsel Margaret Scott QC said that while he had a record for dishonesty, he did not have previous convictions for violence.

Kenny Sutherland however, said he will always believe McPhee was the man who murdered his wife.