A MAN accused of murdering two girls 37 years ago has told a court he did not really care about them and they were something for him to use, but he denied killing the teenagers.

Angus Sinclair, 69, is on trial at the High Court in Livingston, where he has pleaded not guilty to raping and murdering Christine Eadie and her friend Helen Scott.

The 17-year-olds were last seen at Edinburgh's World's End pub on October 15 1977.

Christine's body was found the next day at Gosford Bay, in Aberlady, East Lothian, while Helen's body was discovered a few hours later in a wheat field near Haddington, East Lothian.

Mr Sinclair told jurors he met the girls at the pub with his late brother-in-law Gordon Hamilton.

Under cross-examination from Lord Advocate Frank Mulholland, prosecuting, Mr Sinclair said they spoke to the girls for around "five to ten minutes" inside the pub.

He offered them a lift and they got in his Toyota Hiace caravanette before driving to the city's Holyrood Park, where both men had consensual sexual intercourse with each girl, he told the court.

Asked why he drove there instead of taking the girls home, Mr Sinclair said it was to "chance my arm with the girls".

Mr Mulholland asked: "You say 'do you want a lift home?' and they said yes?" Sinclair agreed.

Mr Mulholland asked: "Sex was on your mind?"

"Yes," he replied.

"Sex clearly wasn't on the mind of the girls?" Mr Mulholland asked.

"No," Mr Sinclair said.

"But you wanted sex didn't you?"

"Yes," Mr Sinclair replied.

"You didn't care that the girls wanted to go home?"

"No," he replied.

"You just wanted sex, didn't you?"

Mr Sinclair replied "yes".

He was asked if the girls were "terrified" or if he sensed any "fear" in the girls, to which Mr Sinclair said no.

"You didn't care about them did you?" Mr Mulholland asked.

"Not really," Mr Sinclair replied.

"They were just something for you to use, is that the case?"

"Yes."

Earlier, at the beginning of his evidence under questioning from defence QC Ian Duguid, Mr Sinclair told the court he had been married to Hamilton's sister Sarah. He and Hamilton had travelled from Glasgow to East Lothian to go fishing on the Friday night and had spent the next day fishing before going into Edinburgh and visiting the World's End pub at around 10.30pm, he said.

After meeting the girls and going to Holyrood Park in the caravanette he had sex with Christine, while Hamilton was with Helen, Mr Sinclair said.

Asked what happened next he said they "swapped partners".

Mr Sinclair then told the court they drove back to the spot where he had been fishing earlier, with him driving while Hamilton and the girls were still in the back.

He said he got his fishing gear out of the van before Hamilton drove off and it was his understanding Hamilton was driving them home.

He told the court he only found out what happened to them after reading about it in a newspaper on the Tuesday. He then confronted Hamilton when they went fishing the following Friday, jurors heard.

"He was very reluctant to talk," he said.

Mr Sinclair is accused of carrying out the attacks along with Hamilton, who died in 1996.

He has submitted three special defences of incrimination.

The trial, before judge Lord Matthews, continues today when he is expected to continue giving evidence.