Parents knew he might never be tried a second time
were terrified of convicting an innocent man.
Former detective superintendent Kenny Morrison said: “It was what used to be called a perverse jury. We felt they had gone against the evidence.
“They were certainly influenced by Auld’s QC, Donald Findlay. His pitch was, ‘How will you feel about sending an innocent man to jail?’ That was enough to sway them, I think.
“In my opinion, the only person it could have been was Auld but the legal system found the case not proven.
“That to me was purely down to the jury and Findlay’s eloquence and skill.”
Morrison, who retired in 1999, said the case had a devastating impact on Amanda’s family. He added: “They were just ordinary, everyday lovely people whose world collapsed through nothing they had done.
“A young, attractive girl was murdered in a horrific way. Heavens knows what she could have been today.
“That’s part of the nightmare for the family. She’d be in her 40s and they must think, ‘We could be grandparents.’
“You can’t imagine the horror of living with that.”
In 1994, Auld was convicted of making threatening calls to former friends, telling them: “You thought Amanda was the last – you’re next.”
The next year, Amanda’s parents Joe and Kate, pictured left, raised a private civil action against Auld. A judge found him responsible for her death and awarded her parents £50,000 damages.
But despite the legal victory, the couple never received a penny.
In 2011, a change to Scotland’s ancient double jeopardy laws raised fresh hopes for justice and the inquiry into Amanda’s murder was officially reopened on May 31, 2012.
Her dad Joe said: “All we have ever wanted is justice for Amanda and over the years we have had to consider that this might never happen.
“If a new trial does proceed, it will be a massive step forward for our family”
In November 2014, serial killer Angus Sinclair, 69, became the first person in Scotland to be retried for the same crime after an acquittal.
The monster raped and strangled 17-year-olds Helen Scott and Christine Eadie after a night out at the World’s End pub in Edinburgh in 1977.
Sinclair was jailed for a minimum of 37 years and his conviction led to speculation Auld would be next.
In February 2015, Auld was pictured for the first time in more than a decade.
He had left Scotland in the mid-90s after walking free from the High Court.
He lived in Leicester, then on the south coast in Brighton and Worthing – but had not been seen since police reopened the case against him.
The Sunday Mail tracked him down to a quiet suburb in Nottingham where he was living with his then girlfriend and their golden Labrador.
A reporter approached him and said: “Francis Auld? Sorry to trouble you.”
He replied: “You’re not sorry at all,” before closing his door.
Last September, Auld moved to China with his wife Portia after she landed a teaching job.
He was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer when he returned to Britain and went to live in Torquay in Devon.
Police and prosecutors spent around two years trying to build a new case against Auld but last February, it collapsed after judges ruled new evidence was inadmissible.