Injustice is swift: Justice is slow

31 August 2007 11:16

Man cleared of teenager's murder after 20 years in jail

By Jonathan Brown
Published: 31 August 2007

A man who was jailed in 1982 for the rape and murder of a schoolgirl has had his conviction overturned after new evidence emerged that he had made a false confession under pressure from the police.

Raymond Gilmour, 45, who was described as a vulnerable individual who could not cope with being stressed, maintained his innocence throughout his 20 years in jail for strangling 16-year-old Pamela Hastie.

Three judges granted his appeal yesterday at the Court of Appeal in Edinburgh, declaring the original majority verdict unsafe after hearing "important and significant" evidence in the case. It also emerged that during the investigation into the murder, evidence was given to the police that could link the child killer Robert Black to the crime.

A van driver alleged that Black ran out of the woods and collided with his vehicle on the day that Miss Hastie's body was found. Black was given a life sentence in 1994 after being found guilty of the killings of 11-year-old Borders schoolgirl Susan Maxwell in 1982, five-year-old Caroline Hogg from Portobello a year later and Sarah Harper, 10, from Leeds in 1986.

Speaking outside the court, Gilmour's mother Christina said that the family's long wait for justice was now over. Mrs Gilmour, 76, said: "It's been a long, long wait but we've got what we asked for. It's been very, very tough for all these years, but I've always believed he was innocent. I've never had any doubts."

Gilmour, who is currently serving another sentence for indecent exposure, confessed twice to the original charge but later claimed he was forced into making the admissions. Miss Hastie was killed in November 1981 in Rannoch Woods near to her home in Johnstone, Renfrewshire, where her partly clothed body was later found.

At a court hearing last year, an expert in interrogation and confessions said Gilmour was emotionally disturbed at the time.

Professor Gisli Gudjonsson, a professor in forensic psychology, said: "He was a vulnerable individual. If subjected to pressure he would not have coped well with that pressure."

There was also fresh evidence regarding the significance of cuts found on Miss Hastie's fingers, no mention of which was made in the Crown pathologist's report, which came from two other experts in forensic medicine.

One of the judges, Lord Gill, said he had noted discrepancies between Gilmour's confession and the state of the corpse.