Murder case police in bias denial

A list of possible killers of Ms McCabe was produced

Detectives have denied they were biased when the Templeton Woods murder hunt was reopened after 25 years.

The High Court in Edinburgh heard an allegation that possible other suspects were ignored by police.

Vincent Simpson, 61, denies murdering nursery nurse Elizabeth McCabe, 20, whose body was found in Dundee's Templeton Woods in February 1980.

He claims he has an alibi and has also produced a list of 13 names which he said were more likely suspects.

The list includes a man called Ronald Bell whose name was linked with the abduction of a nurse and who told police he took women to Templeton Woods for sex.

Another man, John Cant Smith, who lived just a few doors from Ms McCabe's home in Lyndhurst Avenue, Dundee, was jailed for life in 1983 for the murder of a woman and the rape of her teenage daughter.

Also on the list was local man Brian Lindsay, 50, who gave evidence earlier in the trial, denying his involvement.

'Evidence led'

Defence QC Mark Stewart told the court of a "geographical profile" based on where Ms Cabe's body was discovered and where her clothes and handbag were found at three different places in Dundee.

Mr Stewart suggested to Det Insp Alastair Reid, 42, that the locations suggested a link to Mr Lindsay - something the police officer said he did not accept.

Mr Stewart said: "There is ample evidence which indicates that more care should have been taken and more effort should have been applied to enquire into the links with Brian Lindsay and the death of Elizabeth McCabe than was ever practised in the part of the inquiry which began in 2005."

Mr Reid said: "I don't accept that, sir. The investigation was led by the evidence."

Mr Stewart told the court: "From a very early stage there was a bias in this inquiry which was to find evidence to support a police theory that Vincent Simpson had killed Elizabeth McCabe.

There comes a time when the evidence points to an individual, not police bias Det Insp Alastair Reid

"There comes a time when the evidence points to an individual, not police bias."

Questioned by advocate depute Alex Prentice QC, prosecuting, Mr Reid said the investigation had been fair-minded and thorough and that he and his colleagues had approached their task with an open mind.

Det Ch Insp Ewen West, 47, who took over the inquiry in June 2004, described it as "a challenge" when he came to review the work which had been done in 1980.

Mr Prentice said: "Did you have any one person in mind?"

"No I didn't," said Mr West.

He confirmed that Mr Lindsay had been of interest to the investigation back in 1980 but said there had never been anything to justify accusing him of the murder.

In 1980 Mr Simpson, now of Camberley, Surrey, was living in the village of Newtyle, near Dundee, and running a private hire taxi business from his home.

The trial before Lord Kinclaven , which is in its sixth week, continues.