World’s End father f inds peace at last with Helen
THE father of World’s End murder victim Helen Scott has died, a year after seeing her killer brought to justice – and 38 years to the day since his daughter’s body was found.
Morain Scott, 85, had promised his wife before her death in 1989 that he would fight on until their daughter’s murderer was caught.
Helen Scott and Christine Eadie, both 17, were last seen alive in the World’s End pub in Edinburgh’s High Street on the night of October 15, 1977. Their bodies were found the next day, dumped in East Lothian. They had been raped and strangled.
The teenagers were targeted by Angus Sinclair, now 70, and his brother-in-law Gordon Hamilton, now dead. Mr Scott fought ill health to keep his pledge to his wife and witnessed sadistic serial killer Sinclair being given the longest jail sentence in Scottish history when he was convicted under double jeopardy laws last November. Sinclair became the first person in Scotland to be retried for the same crime after being acquitted in 2007.
During the second trial, a frail Mr Scott told the High Court in Livingston: ‘I have had to live with it for over 30 years and I have kept it to myself because I didn’t want to bother anyone else. I just kept going.’
Last night, Mr Scott’s son Kevin said his father had a weak heart but had slipped away peacefully. He added: ‘Following the events of 1977, life was never going to be easy in the Scott household, but my dad did everything he could to keep the world spinning within our family and maintained a very active role within the SFA, East of Scotland League and for our home town club of Coldstream, which makes us all very proud.
‘My dad took great comfort that the conviction for the horrible acts towards my sister Helen and her friend Christine was achieved within his lifetime, for which we are eternally grateful,
‘He took comfort in the conviction’
and this made dad’s final few months so much easier. The tenacious police work and detailed prosecution from everyone involved made this possible.
‘My dad decided it was time to go, but stayed with us to get to the anniversary. Now he has Helen’s hand, can rest and is at peace. It’s very poignant that he stayed with us until the anniversary of Helen’s death.’
Deputy Chief Constable Tom Wood, who commanded the investigation into the case until his retirement in 2005, said: ‘Morain Scott was a fine man who for 37 years never gave up. He had been in ill health for a number of years, and a lot of us felt he was determined to stay around to see justice done.
‘He set such a fine example of courage and tenacity, you could not help but admire him and, hearing this news, I am very sorry for his family.
‘He wanted to see justice done for his lovely daughter, as he used to refer to Helen, and to keep his promise to his wife.’
Last night, Lord Advocate Frank Mulholland, QC, said: ‘I am saddened to hear of Morain’s death. He was a lovely man who bore his daughter’s murder with great dignity and forbearance. He never gave up hope that one day Helen’s murderer would be brought to justice.’
The East of Scotland Football Association tweeted: ‘It is with great sadness that we have to announce our Honorary President, Morain Scott, passed away on Friday evening.
‘ Morain was a very longstanding servant of East of Scotland football and will be sorely missed.’