A WOMAN has told a court how she thought it was irregular when she saw a man in dark clothes walking close to where Elaine Doyle's body was discovered.
Samantha Nicol, 44, told the High Court in Edinburgh the man spent approximately half an hour in Ardgowan Street, Greenock, Inverclyde, in the early hours of June 2, 1986.
Ms Nicol told the court she saw the man walking up and down the street hours before 16-year-old Elaine's remains were discovered in a lane off the thoroughfare.
Ms Nicol - who used to live in Greenock - told advocate Donald Findlay, QC: "It just seemed irregular."
Ms Nicol, now of Motherwell, North Lanarkshire, was giving evidence in proceedings against John Docherty, 49, who denies murdering Elaine in 1986.
Ms Nicol told Mr Findlay, who is representing Docherty, she was watching TV when her dog started growling. She went to the window of her parents' home and saw the man walking along the street.
Ms Nicol thought the man was looking for the number of a house in the street. When Mr Findlay asked Ms Nicol whether she knew the man, she replied: "No." She said he spent approximately 30 minutes in the street.
The court later heard that Ms Nicol gave a statement to police on June 8, 1986.
Docherty, now of Dunoon, denies murder and claims that at the time he is alleged to have stripped and strangled Elaine, he was with his parents - who are no longer alive - at their home in Anne Street, Greenock.
Docherty has also lodged a special defence of incrimination. It claims the culprit may be among a list of 41 names. The trial continues.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article