Pay-out for former murder suspect
A TURKISH-born man accused of murdering a Glasgow prostitute has settled out of court after a three-year legal battle for compensation.
Halil Kandil, 40, was one of four men charged in 2007 with strangling Emma Caldwell at a community cafe in Glasgow’s Bridge Street and of later dumping her body.
But following the dropping of the charges by t he Crown Of f i c e, Kandil has been awarded an undisclosed sum for the time he spent in jail awaiting trial. His original claim was for £100,000.
Similar compensation claims from the three other men involved have yet to be settled, it is understood.
Convicted rapist Huseyin Cobanoglu, 61, from Irvine; Ayrshire, Abubekir Oncu, 37 from Springboig, Glasgow; and Mustafa Soylemez, 41, from Sprinburn, Glasgow have also all raised claims.
Ms Caldwell, of Erskine, Ayrshire, became a heroin addict and worked as a prostitute to pay for her habit. She was killed in 2005 and her body was dumped in woodland.
The later arrest of the suspects f o l l o we d a contentious translation of police tapes that allegedly captured the four men discussing the murder. While a police officer of Turkish origin claimed the men spoke about killing Ms Caldwell, two other specialists said they heard no mention of murder on the tapes.
A Police Scotland spokesman said: “As there is ongoing litigation with the parties involved, Police Scotland cannot comment.”
Kandil, from Cadder, Gl a s g o w, declined to comment.
No-one has been convicted of the murder.