ONE of the victims in the World's End murders struggled vigorously as she was tied up by her killer, a jury has heard.

The sixth day of the trial of Angus Sinclair, 69, heard that Christine Eadie appeared to have fought strongly to avoid her wrists being bound. It also heard that her friend, Helen Scott, might have been overpowered or even been unconscious as it appeared her wrists had been bound more easily.

The jury at Livingston High Court was told the girls, both 17, were restrained and strangled with ligatures in October 1977.

The girls had last been seen the night before their bodies were found four miles apart in East Lothian leaving the World's End pub in Edinburgh's High Street with two men.

The court also heard the witness statement of a late girlfriend of Sinclair's who said "Gus" had always been kind to her and had been a considerate lover.

Dr Rodger Ide, 72, a forensic scientist with expertise in the tying of knots, demonstrated to the jury the differences in tying various knots, and the differences that resulted if someone was right or left-handed.

He used a rope to demonstrate these differences, explaining to the jury that the use of reef knots normally indicated some training and were favoured by sailors.

His examination had shown that the ligatures binding Christine's wrists and holding her gag in her mouth both displayed reef knots.

He also pointed out that the leg of a pair of tights used to bind Christine's wrists showed that a knot had been tied to secure one wrist first, indicating that she was struggling. The ligature had then been wrapped around the other wrist "making something like handcuffs".

He said: "It's consistent with the way people would tie an unwilling subject."

He added that in Helen's case, her hands were tied behind her back more closely together, with a figure of eight binding being used.

He added: "It may be that she had been intimidated or threatened and forced to hold her wrists together."

Dr Ide said the person that had bound Christine's wrists and kept her gag in place had demonstrated some knowledge or training in the tying of knots. By comparison, the ligature around Christine's neck, which had strangled her, and the two ligatures found round Helen's wrists and neck, did "not demonstrate any knot-tying skill".

He concluded that it was likely two different people were responsible for tying the five ligatures recovered from the bodies.

Dr Ide cautioned that this did not provide strong evidence. He added: "I think it's likely that the two girls were tied by different people, but I can't be sure of it."

Retired Det Sgt Joan Shanks read a dramatic witness statement to the jury, which she had taken from Carolyn Mitchell on 22 November 2004. The witness died in 2009 and her statement had been redacted so the jury only heard the evidence that was "relevant".

The statement revealed that she had dated Sinclair in the Edinburgh area in around 1970-71.

They had kissed on their first date, but not had sex for about six months, and he had always been "gentle and never rough".

In the statement, she revealed that she had been with Sinclair in the Wemyss Hotel in Port Seton and had met there with two brothers known to him.

One was the late Gordon Hamilton. Sinclair is accused of acting with him to commit the double-rape and murder. The witness had recalled that Hamilton and his brother, a larger man, had been showing Sinclair how to tie knots.

Earlier Dr Howard Moody, 71, a retired odontologist, gave evidence about a "likely" human bite-mark on Christine's left hand and was asked by Ian Duguid QC, defending, why the pathologists who carried out post mortem examinations in 1977 had not noted it.

He said that it was long after 1977 when a case was first solved by a bite mark so the awareness of their significance would not have been what it became later.

Sinclair denies raping and murdering Christine and Helen in October 1977. The trial continues.