Episode 479: World's End Murders
Morbid
The Unsolved Death of Christine and Helen
The bodies of Christine and Helen were found in a field near World's End. They had been throttled with ligatures around their necks, according to autopsies. Both women also had injuries from being sexually assaulted. The murders sent shockwaves through the small community just outside Edinburgh.
On October 15, 1977, seventeen-year-olds Christine Eadie and Helen Scott met some friends at the World’s End Pub in Edinburgh’s Old Town neighborhood to celebrate their new jobs and what they assumed would be the start of their adult lives. The next day, Christine’s body was discovered by hikers near Gosford Bay, while Helen’s body was discovered in a cornfield several miles away. The Lothian and Borders Police mounted a massive investigation to identify and apprehend the killer but, despite their best efforts, evidence was sparse and by the following year the case had gone cold.
The World’s End Murders, as they’d come to be known, became one of Scotland’s most notorious cold cases, until it was reactivated in 1997 in hopes that scientific and technological advances of the previous two decades could lead them to the girls’ killer.
Thank you To the Fabulous Dave White for Research Assistance
References:
Amos, Ilona. 2019. Scots soil experts hit paydirt in old murder cases. February 28. Accessed March 17, 2023. https://www.scotsman.com/news/scots-soil-experts-hit-paydirt-old-murder-cases-2512052.
BBC News. 2007. Victim 'strangled with stocking'. August 29. Accessed March 15, 2023. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/edinburgh_and_east/6968530.stm.
—. 2007. World's End father gives evidence. August 30. Accessed March 15, 2023. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/edinburgh_and_east/6970429.stm.
Brooks, Lib. 2014. "Serial killer guilty of World's End murders." The Guardian, November 15.
Carrel, Severin. 2007. Trial of World's End murders suspect collapses. September 11. Accessed March 15, 2023. https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2007/sep/11/ukcrime.scotland\.
Carrell, Severin. 2007. "Murder jury told of 'shifty' man." The Guardian, August 30.
Edinburgh Evening News. 1999. "World's End killer probe is wound up." Edinburgh Evening News, March 25.
Gibbons, Katie. 2014. "Accused saw murdered girls as OBJECTs, he tells World's." The Times, November 12.
Howie, Michael, and John Robertson. 2007. "Thirty years ago he murdered two innocent young women." The Scotsman, September 11.
Johnston, David, and Tom Wood. 2008. The World's End Murders: A Thirty-Year Quest for Justice. Edinburgh, Scotland: Birlinn Publishing .
Leask, David. 2014. "Edinburgh World's End murder trial underway." The Herald, October 14.
Leicester Mercury. 1977. "Douible murder hunt starts after teenage girls found dead." Leicester Mercury, October 17: 17.
Macaskill, Mark. 2014. "World's End 'shows killers won't escape'." Sunday Times, November 16.
Mega, Marcello. 1997. "Gangster linked to girls' murder." Sunday Times, March 23.
Robertson, John. 2007. "World's End accused blames brother-in-law." The Scotsman, August 28.
Rodrick, Vic, and Marcello Mega. 2014. "'One-in-billion chance DNA is not Sinclair's'." The Herald, October 25.
The Herald. 2014. "Defendant touched 'most if not all' ligatures, says expert." The Herald, November 5.
—. 2022. "My parents feared for me after World's End horror, says Ian." The Herald, October 17.
—. 2014. Victim of World's End murder struggled as killer tied her up. October 21. Accessed March 15, 2023. https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/13185780.victim-worlds-end-murder-struggled-killer-tied/.
The Times. 2007. "Wife of man accused in World's End murder trial agrees to speak." The Times, September 1.
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