Woods murder case call rejected

Elizabeth McCabe was strangled more than 27 years ago

A judge has rejected a bid to have the case against a man accused of a murder in Dundee in 1980 thrown out.

Vincent Simpson claimed he could not receive a fair trial for the killing of Elizabeth McCabe, whose body was found in Templeton Woods in 1980.

Defence agents for the 60-year-old, from Camberley in Surrey, also said continuing the prosecution would breach his human rights.

The arguments were rejected by a judge at the High Court in Edinburgh.

Defence advocate Ashley Edwards argued that Mr Simpson could not receive a fair trial because a number of items and documents from the original inquiry were missing and some potential witnesses from the time had either died or could not be traced.

Some disadvantage

She went on to detail clothing and forensic samples which the defence said it might need and which could not be traced.

After a legal debate, judge Lord Brodie said that while the passage of time had obviously caused some disadvantage he was not convinced that any trial would not be fair.

Mr Simpson himself had been excused attendance at the hearing but is expected to appear for trial next month.

He faces a charge of strangling nursery nurse Ms McCabe, whose body was found in Templeton Woods just days before her 21st birthday.

It is alleged that in February 1980 in Union Street, the woods and elsewhere in Dundee he assaulted Ms McCabe, hit her on the head and compressed her neck, murdering her.

Mr Simpson faces two other charges of breach of the peace, alleging that he approached women in Dundee at about the same time, causing them distress and alarm.