The Vicky Hamilton murder trial heard yesterday that a purse belonging to the teenager was found in Edinburgh 11 days after she was last seen alive.

The Vicky Hamilton murder trial heard yesterday that a purse belonging to the teenager was found in Edinburgh 11 days after she was last seen alive.

Hamish Watson, 41, a chef, told the High Court in Dundee he discovered a purse in St Andrew Square as he made his way to work in the city's George Hotel on February 21, 1991.

Mr Watson said he spotted the item close to the wheels of a portable cabin and picked it up before carrying on with his journey to the hotel.

Mr Watson said: "The ground was damp as it had been raining, but the purse was dry, which I found unusual.

"It didn't look as if it had been there very long."

Peter Tobin, 62, is accused of abducting the 15-year-old from Redding, near Falkirk, and taking her to a Bathgate address on February 10, 1991. It is alleged that he murdered and bisected her before burying the schoolgirl's remains. He is also accused of misleading police by depositing a purse and its contents belonging to Vicky under a portable cabin to make it appear that she had run away from home.

Mr Tobin denies all charges against him and claims that he was not in Bathgate at the time the teenager was last seen alive.

Mr Watson told the court that he went to St Leonards Police Station during the break in his split shift and handed in the purse.

Four days later, officers came to his home and the chef was later interviewed by police "for a couple of hours". He provided a mouth swab to officers and took them to where he found the purse, the jury was told.

A letter had already been written to Vicky to let her know that a purse, which contained her national insurance card and a home address, had been handed into police.

A statement from Lillian Williamson, a senior clerical officer at police headquarters at Fettes, Edinburgh, and now deceased, was read to the court by former police officer John McDonald, 65, who had been assigned to the missing person's inquiry launched after Vicky failed to return home.

It said: "On February 22, 1991, I received a batch of found property from St Leonards Police Station and among it was a purse.

Examination of the contents show it was the property of Vicky Hamilton, of Ward Avenue, Redding. In accordance with normal practice I sent a letter asking the user to collect the property.

"I was not aware of the significance of the purse. Had I known I would not have sent it out."

The purse was later positively identified by Vicky's family, the court was told.

Detective Sergeant Derek Patterson, 50, told the court that he examined the contents of the purse at a police forensics laboratory in Edinburgh on January 30, 2007.

He was also given a DNA profile which was later e-mailed to another colleague.

Lord Emslie, the trial judge, asked for clarification on who the DNA profile belonged to. "It was the DNA profile for Vicky Hamilton," Mr Patterson said.

Earlier yesterday, the court had heard from a number of people who may have seen Vicky in Bathgate the night she disappeared.

Lynda Newman, 55, said that she sold Vicky a bag of chips from the Valente's takeaway sometime around 5.35pm and that the teenager had asked for directions to the Falkirk bus stop. She identified a photograph of Vicky as the girl she served.

Donald Findlay QC, defending, asked Ms Newman to describe the demeanour of Vicky that night.

"She was just a normal teenager. She was someone who came in, got served and went," she said.

The trial continues.