Woods body mistaken for mannequin

Elizabeth McCabe went missing after a night out in 1980

A man who discovered the body of a young woman in Dundee thought he had found a discarded mannequin, a murder trial has heard.

The High Court in Edinburgh also heard from a man who described seeing a taxi driver with "dirty hands" emerging from Templeton Woods.

Elizabeth McCabe's body was found there on the eve of her 21st birthday in February 1980.

Vincent Simpson, from Surrey, has denied murder.

Jurors heard testimonies from James Cochrane and his friend James Fleming, who were hunting rabbits in the woods on 26 February 1980 with their dogs.

After briefly losing site of his dog, Mr Cochrane said he tracked her to a small clearing in Templeton Woods.

He said: "The dog was just standing and sniffing about.

"I just saw a pile of branches and there was something underneath so I pulled them off."

Mr Cochrane added: "They had all been placed to cover the body."

'Dirty hands'

He told the court that he did not immediately realise what he had found.

"To me it looked like a mannequin or dummy lying down."

He said he pushed it with his booted foot. "I wasn't sure what I was dealing with.

"It was when Jim pushed through and started to scream that I realised."

Earlier, the trial heard from pensioners Andrew and Mary McKay who described seeing a Ford Cortina emerge from a road which led to Templeton Woods on the night Miss McCabe disappeared.

The trial has already heard how the accused ran a taxi business at the time from his home in Newtyle, near Dundee, and drove a Ford Cortina.

The 61-year-old from Camberley claims he has an alibi and has suggested anyone from a list of 13 names lodged in court could be Miss McCabe's real killer.

It was as if he was searching about for something to wipe his hands with Andrew McKay

Giving evidence in court, Andrew McKay, 70, said he and his wife were heading home after an evening with friends in February 1980 when a pale blue Cortina pulled out in front of them.

The retired cobbler said that the male driver appeared to be alone in the car with the interior light on.

He said the man seemed to be driving "with his wrists."

"It was as though he had dirty hands and he was feared to touch the steering wheel and it was as if he was searching about for something to wipe his hands with," he said.

Mr McKay said the pale blue Ford Cortina looked "brand new", as though "it had just come out of the showroom".

Taxi sign

The witness was shown a photo of a Cortina which a previous witness had said was like Mr Simpson's car.

He said: "Yes, that is just what it was like, same taxi sign."

However, he pointed out that the colour was different.

He told the court the taxi "came right back to my mind" after reading about the discovery of Miss McCabe's body in the papers, and learning that police were looking for vehicles.

Miss McCabe's body was discovered two weeks after she left friends in a disco in central Dundee, having turned down the offer of a taxi to her home in the Lochee area of the city.