One of Scotland’s most high-profile murder cases is returning to court, Edinburgh News reports. The Crown Office announced earlier this week that Angus Sinclair will again stand trial on suspicion of murdering Christine Eadie and Helen Scott almost four decades ago, after a night out in a pub.
Sinclair has been indicted for the murders after the successful application by the Lord Advocate Frank Mulholland in March. He sought permission from the High Court to re-open the case under the terms of the Double Jeopardy (Scotland) Act 2011. The judges set aside Sinclair’s previous acquittal and allowed Mulholland to proceed with the charges. The preliminary hearing will take place on 26 June 2014 in Edinburgh, the Crown Office said in a statement.
The crime Sinclair will be re-tried for is known as the World’s End Murders. This is the name of the pub where the two victims were last seen on 15 October 1977. The naked bodies of the two 17-year-olds were found that same month; Eadie was located in Gosford Bay, East Lothian and Scott was found in a field six miles away. The police established that the two girls had been tied up, gagged, raped and subsequently strangled.
Sinclair was charged with the murders and brought to trial in 2007 but was later cleared of the charges when the presiding judge ruled there was no case to answer. However, the historic change in the double jeopardy law means it is now possible for prosecutors to re-try people for the same crime.