Man accused of murdering sister

Charge alleges brother stabbed her near monument to witch

The brother of body-in-the-woods victim Annalise Johnstone is accused of murdering her by repeatedly stabbing her in the neck in the shadow of a sinister witch’s monument.

Jordan Johnstone appeared in court yesterday, accused of murdering the 22-year-old near where her body was found in rural Perthshire.

The charge alleges 24-year-old Johnstone repeatedly struck his sister in the neck with a sharp implement at the Maggie’s Wall monument, on the B8062 between Auchterarder and Dunning.

He made no plea during the brief hearing. Solicitor Jim Laverty made no motion for bail and Johnstone was remanded in custody.

A young woman found dead on a rural Perthshire road was allegedly stabbed to death by her brother at an infamous witch monument.

Jordan Johnstone has appeared in court accused of murdering his sister Annalise.

It is alleged the 24-year-old repeatedly struck her in the neck with a sharp implement at the Maggie Wall memorial, next to the B8062 between Auchterarder and Dunning.

Johnstone, who had been living in Perthshire, also faced a second charge alleging he had stolen a caravan in Irvine, Ayrshire, on May 9.

He made no plea and the case against him was continued for further examination.

Solicitor Jim Laverty made no motion for bail and Johnstone was remanded in custody.

He is expected to make a follow-up appearance at the same court next week.

Miss Johnstone’s body was found by a member of the public on May 10.

The grim discovery sparked a massive police investigation across Tayside, with at least 11 locations sealed off.

Police resources were pulled in from across the country.

Miss Johnstone, 22, a member of the Ardrossan Travelling community, had been driven to the Auchterarder area the night before she was found dead.

The Courier revealed earlier this week that the Maggie’s Wall monument, just outside Dunning, had become a focus of the investigation.

Police were seen carrying out a fingertip search around the stone cross and cairn, which had been partly covered with a black tarpaulin.

The monument gained global notoriety during the trial of Moors Murderers Ian Brady and Myra Hindley.

It emerged the pair had visited the site during their killing spree and photographs of them posing next to the stone cross during a holiday in Scotland were published in newspapers, prompting headlines comparing Hindley to a witch.

The memorial, which sits at the roadside about half-a-mile south-west of Dunning, is the only monument of its kind in Scotland dedicated to a single “witch”, although there is no evidence Maggie Wall even existed.

During their investigation, police cordoned off properties in nearby Auchterarder and visited the Toolstation store on King’s Cross Road, Dundee.

A car, which some say was abandoned, was seized by investigators from outside a house in Inchture.

The B8062 stretch where Miss Johnstone was found had been sealed off for more than two weeks but police announced shortly after Johnstone’s court appearance that it had finally been reopened.

The monument gained notoriety during the trial of the Moors Murderers

Picture: Steven MacDougall. Police seen during the exhaustive search of the land near the B8062 where the body of Annalise Johnstone, below, was discovered.