Body parts wrapped in plastic bags were found at various locations in Dundee

It was the “Taggart-style” murder that provoked revulsion in Dundee 25 years ago.

The gruesome killing came to light on December 30 1992, following the grisly discovery of a severed arm by a policeman’s daughter as she walked a police dog on the Law.

Further searches revealed a cut-up torso and part of an arm wrapped in plastic bags.

A second batch of human remains was later found dumped in Dudhope Park and included a severed foot in a lady’s stocking.

A police appeal produced around 90 responses, including one from James Dunbar, who was concerned his halfbrother, Gordon Dunbar, had not arrived for a planned Christmas meal.

The landlord of the guesthouse on Victoria Road where the former Dundee Corporation architect had been staying said he had not been home for about a week and it transpired the last confirmed sighting of Mr Dunbar had been on Christmas Eve.

Then, a tip-off from a Perth informant led the police to Alastair Thompson and among his possessions was the key to a ninth-floor flat at Butterburn Court.

Mr Dunbar, who was 52, had gone out on Christmas Eve before being robbed by Thompson and stabbed through the heart in the Butterburn Court multi.

Inside, police discovered plastic bags and tape of the type used to wrap the body parts and a bloodstained hacksaw.

Mr Dunbar’s blood and tissue were found in the bathroom.

It also emerged that Thompson, 43, had given Mr Dunbar’s gold chain to a girlfriend as a present.

Mr Dunbar’s head was never recovered and an old operation scar, DNA and fingerprints were used to prove his identity.

Gordon’s brother, Jim, of Carnoustie, said he still has not come to terms with the events that happened in Butterburn Court.

“When I cross the Tay Road Bridge and see the profile of Dundee and the Law, I can’t help but think of my brother,” he said.

“Once it is out of view, it goes to the back of my mind – but it doesn’t go away.”

Andrew Murray Scott, author of Modern Dundee: Life in the City Since World War Two, said: “It was a truly repugnant incident and will go down as one of Dundee’s – and indeed Scotland’s – most despicable crimes.

“With body parts cut up and dumped at locations throughout the city and a headless corpse it played out like a reallife episode of Taggart.”

During the trial at the High Court in Edinburgh Thompson protested his innocence in the killing and robbery, claiming he had merely disposed of the body parts for the two Glasgow “heavies” he said had carried out the murder.

But he was sentenced to life in prison, with judge Lord Weir telling him he would serve a minimum of 20 years for his “nauseating and barbaric” crimes.

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When I cross the Tay Road Bridge and see the profile of Dundee and the Law, I can’t help but think of my brother

Top: Alastair Thompson in 1993 at the High Court. James Dunbar, centre left, became concerned for his half brother Gordon, centre right, and searches were carried out.