The smartly dressed murder accused

There was nothing in Mr Simpson's history to suggest he was violent

Vincent Simpson did not have the kind of background normally associated with someone accused of one of Scotland's most notorious unsolved murders.

He was well-groomed and smartly dressed throughout his seven-week trial at the High Court in Edinburgh.

The former taxi driver was on bail throughout the proceedings, and shared the same entrances, stairways and corridors as Elizabeth McCabe's family.

He was allowed to walk freely around the building during intervals, and did not have to suffer the indignity of being handcuffed to security officers in the dock.

The father-of-three could have been mistaken for a witness, or even a legal figure by most court visitors, who would probably never have suspected he stood accused of a brutal murder.

Window cleaner

Mr Simpson had a history of fairly petty crime as a young man, mostly for dishonesty and with nothing in his record to suggest he was capable of serious violence.

He was convicted of larceny in 1967 before being found guilty of theft and going equipped to steal three years later.

In 1974, he added another theft conviction to his name, and in 1977 he was convicted of burglary and theft.

Four years later, he would be convicted of fraud and making a false statement to police.

Elizabeth McCabe's mother Anne sat through most of the trial

When police began to re-examine the unsolved case in 2005, he was working as a part-time window cleaner in Camberley, Surrey, with his wife, Gillian.

He told officers he met his wife when she was a nurse in Dundee, and they initially moved south.

But when they started a family, her parents wanted to see their grandchildren and the family moved to Dundee once again.

By 1980, Mr Simpson was running a small private hire taxi business from his home in the village of Newtyle, outside the city.

The court heard claims that the business was amateurish and disorganised and it was suggested he would turn a blind eye if his drivers breached strict regulations on picking up fares.

Jurors heard that Mr Simpson told police he was a gambler in those days and had money problems. He left the Dundee area when the business went to the wall.

True killer

Mr Simpson blamed "problems" with police during the probe into Miss McCabe's death and remained down south after the move.

He consistently denied any involvement in the death of Miss McCabe and gave the court a list of 13 names, claiming one or more of the men was the murderer.

The Crown spent seven weeks trying to convince the jury of Mr Simpson's guilt. It took jurors just three hours to confirm his innocence.

After almost three decades, Miss McCabe's family remain no closer to knowing who the real killer was.