42 years on, suspect held over murder of scientist ‘who was secret escort’
A PENSIONER has been arrested over the murder of a woman found battered to death in her home more than 40 years ago.
Dr Brenda Page was a leading genetic scientist by day – but believed to have been an escort by night.
Yesterday, a 79-year-old man was being questioned by police following a dawn raid on a home in Aberdeen’s West End.
Officers knocked down the front door before detectives and scene of crime specialists started to search the property.
It comes only days after the release of a podcast about the unsolved murder.
A spokesman for Police Scotland said: ‘A 79-year-old man has been arrested for the murder of Dr Brenda Page. Dr Page, who was 32, was found murdered in her flat at 13 Allan Street, Aberdeen, on July 14, 1978.’
There were countless suspects and possible motives when Dr Page was found dead.
It was suggested that the genetic scientist, who worked at Aberdeen University, had also served as a secret call girl, her clients being wealthy businessmen in the then booming North Sea oil and gas industry.
It is believed she met two men on the night she died.
Dr Page – who had separated from her husband, fellow academic Dr Christopher Harrisson – was bludgeoned to death in what police described as a frenzied attack. Despite a large-scale manhunt, her murderer was never caught – and detectives remained baffled by the mysterious death for decades.
In 2004, Grampian TV reconstructed the final movements of Dr Page, who was originally from Ipswich, for a documentary in a effort to jog the public’s minds and get answers about her death.
Then in February 2015, the then Lord Advocate, Frank Mulholland, instructed Police Scotland to check whether or not advancements in forensic science could help to bring the killer to justice.
Since the case was reopened, officers have digitised more than 2,500 statements taken in the 1970s and have added 800 new witness statements. Detective Inspector Gary Winter of the major investigations team, who is leading the cold case probe, said: ‘I’d like to appeal to anyone who believes they may have information relevant to the inquiry and has not previously come forward.
‘I would also urge any previous witnesses from 1978, or from the subsequent review, who have changed contact address or telephone numbers to get in touch and update us.’
It is not known what changed in the police review of the case to prompt yesterday’s arrest.
‘Found dead in her flat’