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00:00for more than four decades a murderer has walked free the 1983 killing of george murdoch a taxi
00:13driver in aberdeen has cast a long shadow over scotland and that shadow remains last time we
00:22saw that despite their best efforts the truth has eluded detectives for more than 40 years
00:28but now you could play your part in helping us try to catch his killer later i'll be joined by the
00:36senior investigating officer james calendar to find out how your insights or even your dna
00:43could help him solve this crime but first the evidence
00:49behind unmarked doors within the walls of almost every police station the hidden room holds the
01:02weight of the uk's most serious unsolved crimes in aberdeen with its nickname the granite city
01:09there's long been a case as tough as stone to crack victims without justice just be murdered taxi
01:16driver george murdoch four decades ago families without answers who carries a cheese one who would
01:23do that criminals who think they've got away with it 41 years on we've never had that break to find
01:30out who was responsible the police hung on to every scrap of evidence for cold case detectives these
01:38investigations are never closed somebody out there knows something they don't stop they keep going
01:44with exclusive access we follow every buried lead forensic clue and forgotten whisper
01:51following the detectives who refuse to let the past rest
01:56the story of george murdoch's murder begins in aberdeen in the 1980s the city's hotels awash with oil
02:14money and rig workers from all over the world george a local taxi driver is working near the marcliffe hotel
02:22he picks up a fair a trip out of town towards kuta 20 minutes later he's dead
02:31attacked with a cheese wire strangled to death and robbed his taxi discovered on a small secluded lane
02:40off north d side road
02:41the only witnesses two 16 year old cyclists who catch a fleeting horrifying
02:52glimpse of the killer before he disappears into the night
02:55the night
02:59the
03:01the
03:03the
03:06the
03:11the
03:13the
03:15i've been on cold cases before and we knew who done it we just had to prove it
03:21this one is totally different we have no idea who done it so it's even more frustrating than
03:26then perhaps it should be but that's what keeps you going
03:34detective inspector james calendar has been leading the investigation into the 1983 murder of taxi driver george murdoch for nearly four years
03:44the
03:46if you
03:47want to get a an understanding of how things developed chronologically the papers are the best
03:52place to get it
03:53to some they're yesterday's fish and chip wrappers but to cold case detectives the newspapers are a haunting reminder of what remains unsolved
04:03james is at home immersed in the past forever searching for that one missed detail that one overlooked clue
04:16the
04:18this one is basically the day after the murder
04:19the
04:22race to help the death fight cubby
04:25saturday the 1st of october a cheese wire has been found at the murder scene
04:29so
04:31a week later
04:32so friday the 7th
04:33still getting reported on
04:35and
04:36police are looking to identify somebody coming out of woods
04:40the running man
04:43the running man
04:46the running man
04:47a lead that never goes away
04:50detectives then and now can't forget him
04:53he's the one
04:54deep down
04:55they suspect is the killer
04:57the
04:58various witnesses
04:59around the time of the murder speak of
05:01seeing somebody
05:03running across north east side road
05:05and that individual
05:07wasn't wearing shorts and t-shirt
05:09wasn't out for a run
05:10but sightings of who that's the
05:12I suppose that's the big question
05:14you know we never identified who the running man was
05:19for 40 years the investigation has focused on identifying the man who fled the scene of george's murder
05:30james has something detectives in 1983 could only dream of
05:34a dna profile that he believes belongs to the killer
05:40we have a dna sample that hasn't been matched in the dna database
05:47familial dna's next step
05:49is a search of the national dna database to identify people with strong genetic links to the profile that we hold
05:57these people aren't suspects
05:59they're just genetically linked or close or similar to the dna profile that we have
06:04so similar that they may be related
06:08the dna sample and familial dna is important
06:11and is the key to solving this
06:14from aberdeen james's team are now all over the uk
06:28determined to collect the dna necessary to close the net on the killer's family
06:32and ultimately the killer himself
06:38we're part of a team that are investigating a murder from 41 years ago
06:42this killer was never caught
06:44so what they've done recently
06:46is what we call familial dna work
06:49and the scientists have managed to
06:52take that dna and narrow it down to around about a thousand people across the uk we've got on our list at the moment
07:02and all of those thousand people have similarities in their dna to that of the killers
07:10and you are one of those a thousand
07:13lovely
07:14we're trying to advance the inquiry for the family to still get answers for george's murder
07:20so yeah are you happy to give that dna today
07:24the people they're swabbing are not the killer
07:28but a brother an uncle or their father could be
07:32that's it anything for us any questions
07:35uh no
07:36cool thanks for your time
07:37not every day you get your dna top of the mirror is it
07:40no exactly yeah
07:42a bit of a shock but thanks very much
07:44yeah you're welcome
07:45all right
07:46detectives have been out on the ground for weeks
07:50now they're heading back to aberdeen with a new lead that needs checking out
07:54urgently
07:56police looking for clues today in slack lane at oakworth where mahmoud ahmed's body was found early yesterday
08:02he had no cash on him when he was found colleagues say he wouldn't have been carrying much anyway
08:08police have discovered a woman whose dna is not only similar to the profile they have for george's killer
08:14she's also related to michael metcalf the man who killed taxi driver mahmoud ahmed in west yorkshire in 2006
08:22his taxi was found dumped in may street at ingrow in keithley last night
08:28he'd been beaten and stabbed to death
08:32when you compare the two of them there are obvious similarities
08:36violent murder
08:38potential robbery
08:40secluded area where it happened
08:44when leads like this do come in
08:46they're taken seriously
08:50there's chilling echoes between the crimes
08:54and then there's the similarity in his bloodline
08:58was metcalf's dna ever taken
09:00if not he could become a suspect for george's murder
09:04out of the 50 stories that we may get
09:08only one of them can be right
09:10so is this the person that killed george?
09:16no it's not
09:26his dna is on file
09:30and doesn't match the dna of george's killer
09:32he may also have killed a taxi driver
09:36but he's definitely not the man police are hunting
09:40really frustrating
09:42there's been quite a lot of good leads in relation to this inquiry
09:46there's probably upwards of 100 names over the years that we've had to eliminate
09:52but you have to remain optimistic
10:04dna the thing that could solve this
10:06has also torn through every possible suspect
10:10george murdoch's killer is a total stranger
10:12that feeling of being so close yet so far
10:18can fuel seeds of doubt
10:20i do feel maybe i'm under a lot of scrutiny at times
10:24we've got to be making progress to justify what we're doing
10:30the case is obviously 41 years old now
10:32so there is real concern that the person is
10:36is deceased
10:38if the person is still alive
10:40we could confidently say they've never been convicted
10:42charged or arrested for a claim
10:44since dna came into being
10:46and it
10:48ultimately comes down to the
10:50the age of the case
10:52leads that vanish
10:54evidence that fades
10:56could the killer be alive
10:58or might he be dead
11:00a phantom
11:02they can't catch
11:06generally the investigation
11:08are more inclined to think
11:10that the individual is dead
11:14adam gregory
11:16is a behavioral investigative advisor
11:18with the national crime agency
11:22i don't think this individual needs to be dead
11:26they just disappear
11:28they go quiet
11:30they stop offending
11:32or they offend in ways that
11:34for whatever reason doesn't identify them
11:36in the interim
11:38with every reason to think
11:40they're still alive
11:42i think that's the most likely hypothesis
11:44this is a tale
11:46with a few twists and turns yet
11:48when i'm fishing it's
11:58an escape
12:00from day to day life
12:02when i'm fishing it's
12:04an escape
12:08from day to day life
12:10when i'm fishing it's
12:12an escape
12:14from day to day life
12:16i first started fishing
12:20when i was 10-11 years old
12:22with dodd
12:24i remember always
12:26being out in his boat
12:28we always used to catch fish
12:32jesse and dodd were like
12:36additional grandparents to me and my sister
12:38lots of happy memories
12:40and good times with him
12:42in the seventies david and his family became neighbors to taxi driver george affectionately known as dodd and his wife jesse
12:56simple happy days filled with the warmth of the people next door
13:00i remember being in bed and all you could hear was them singing
13:04i think it tended to be a saturday night
13:06and everyone took it in turns to sing a song
13:10i always used to make my laugh
13:12and i remember
13:1429th of september
13:161983 so i was 13 years old
13:18i remember the night like it was yesterday
13:22and waking up to hearing jesse cry
13:24from next door
13:30the impact of his murder on george dodd murdoch's widow jesse was unthinkable
13:36and
13:38part of her died that night as well
13:40100
13:42she always had this fear
13:44that whoever had killed dodd
13:46because he took his wallet
13:48and his id his address and everything was in there
13:50that he was going to
13:52come and get her
13:54she had that in her head
13:56all the time
13:58even jesse passed away
14:00she definitely died of a broken heart
14:02her life stopped that night
14:04somebody out there knows
14:06who did it
14:08and they've protected them for 40 years
14:10how you can
14:12protect somebody
14:14that's taken a life
14:16is beyond me
14:18for decades
14:20someone may have shielded
14:22a killer
14:24but you can't outrun dna evidence
14:26forever
14:28the police have a profile
14:30a list of those who are most likely
14:32to be related to the man who murdered george
14:36but the list is vast
14:38they need help to make the haystack they're hunting through
14:40that much smaller
14:42i've probably supported
14:54five or six hundred major crime investigations over the last 30 years
14:58recently
15:00what we've been doing allows
15:02investigations to really maximize the youth familial dna search
15:06and not spend a lot of time running around the country taking samples from people who are
15:14very very unlikely to be related to the suspect
15:20adam and his team at the nca have developed innovative techniques that could accelerate the investigation
15:36familial dna search is a kind of a genetic product that will produce you
15:40a couple of lists of names of people that are genetically really similar
15:44yeah to your crime scene profile
15:46on the basis that
15:48if they're really similar then they might be related
15:50they don't have to be
15:52but we hope that one or more of them is
15:54but we've started to develop a methodology where we can add in
15:58some kind of behavioral components to that as well
16:01so we use age
16:03we use geography
16:04we combine those two things with the original genetics
16:08genetics yeah
16:09and reorder the list
16:10all we'll be doing is bringing more people to the table that you won't have seen
16:16the psychology of the offender and age range
16:20even a sense of where the killer may have lived
16:22piecing together these fragments could reorder the dna list
16:27and fast track the police investigation
16:30people don't suddenly become a criminal and act in a completely different way
16:34they reflect shadows of themselves
16:36elements of themselves which you can pick up through a thorough analysis of a crime scene
16:42witness statements etc
16:44james is going back to the police evidence vault to search for these shadows
16:56he's starting with the statements of the sole witnesses to george's murder
17:01the young cyclists
17:03the two cyclists are hugely significant for us
17:08because their testimony and what they saw is crucial to know what happened
17:13the cyclists have never spoken publicly
17:20the cyclists have never spoken publicly
17:22but their statements preserve key details of the murder
17:27my friend and i were cycling northwards
17:31on station road pit foddles
17:35i saw a man
17:37lying on his back
17:39another man was straddling him with his knees on either side of his waist
17:44he had his hands around his neck they were struggling
17:47the man on the ground tried to shout help me please
17:50it was awful
17:51i couldn't believe it
17:52we needed to ring the police and get help
17:57desperate they raced to the nearest telephone box
18:01but realized they didn't know the street name
18:04one of them quickly returned
18:07the man responsible was getting to his feet
18:10and i saw him place one knee on the driver's seat
18:13he leaned forward and looked as if he was picking up something from the floor
18:19the injured man was still lying on his back
18:22not moving
18:24the man looked like he wasn't breathing
18:26i caught up with my friend
18:28and he was about to enter the public telephone kiosk
18:32hurry
18:33pit foddles station road please
18:36we thereafter immediately headed back towards station road pit foddles
18:41and i saw that the mail was not moving
18:44there was blood on his face
18:47and he might have been dead
18:50i would describe the person responsible
18:54as twenty to thirty years old
18:56five foot seven five foot eight
18:58slim build dark coloured hair
19:00dressed in a dark coloured jumper
19:02with round neck
19:03dark trousers
19:04and dark shoes
19:05there were just two sixteen year old boys
19:17and i know a sixteen year old would think they're a man
19:20but in reality they're a boy
19:22my son's sixteen
19:24and i can't imagine how he would be feeling if he was in that situation
19:29they didn't know somebody was going to die
19:32crucially their statements provide an age range not only for the killer but for any children or siblings he may have who could be on the national DNA database
19:43that is the the last and only sighting of George's killer if it wasn't for the two cyclists the age range could be between twenty and sixty you know but because they were there it helps us hugely
19:58the man they're hunting would be in his sixties or seventies today
20:05murder is rarely anyone's first or last offence particularly in brutal cases most killers have form
20:13but the lack of a DNA match tells the police something important
20:19the killer likely stopped offending before DNA profiles were routinely taken upon arrest in the early two thousands
20:26it's compelling James to delve again into the records
20:33these are all these yellow forms is effectively questionnaires that were given out to taxi drivers
20:40taxi drivers
20:42all 700 taxi drivers that were registered in in aberdeen city
20:46they were wanting to see if there'd been any other potential victims of what George had obviously went through
20:53even in 1983 police suspected other taxi drivers in aberdeen could hold more vital missing clues
21:01my name is Alexander Barthwick and I've been taxiing for 51 years
21:11across the road there is 111 the Gallagate which was city taxi's office when I started with him
21:19in the yard out the back it's the last time I had seen George
21:24there was nothing like that ever really happened in Aberdeen before
21:38back in them days you got the occasional drunk
21:42but there weren't any bother if you just humoured them
21:46in the 80s Alex was driving for city taxis
21:50the same taxi firm George was working for at the time of his murder
21:55once you heard about George's murder
21:58everybody was very wary
22:01if somebody got in your taxi and sat behind you
22:05at the time I was feeling very scared
22:09suddenly you would think twice about getting a taxi
22:13it wasn't a violent city
22:16and it wasn't a crime filled city
22:19there was a feeling surely nobody from Aberdeen could have done this
22:23but then there were so many newcomers into Aberdeen
22:26it could have been somebody who didn't actually belong to this area at all
22:30the high-rise planning legacy of the 60s
22:33and the old city with its granite motif carved out between the dawn and the D
22:37some of the oldest streets date from the 13th century
22:40then came the oil
22:51at the time in the 80s the oil really kicked off in Aberdeen
22:57all oil related ships lying here now this is the ones that go out to the oil rigs in the North Sea
23:09a lot of Americans moved in
23:11a lot of Italians they were particularly in the diving industry
23:14people from all over
23:16oil has meant more incomers and a new cosmopolitan confidence
23:21when they arrived they were into the best hotels because they had the big money
23:28and at the time it was the Marcliffe Hotel
23:32and if you walked in to pick somebody up
23:36all you heard was American voices
23:39and they were speaking about rigs rigs rigs
23:42the Marcliffe Hotel was right next to where George picked up his last fare
23:47it was the last place he was seen alive
23:50clearly it had to be thought of
23:53that it was somebody who'd come into the area brought in by the oil industry
23:57outsider or local
24:00local or outsider
24:03could the killer have hidden in plain sight for 40 years
24:07an Aberdeen native known and yet unknown to all of his friends and family
24:13or did they arrive with the oil boom of the 80s to leave a trail of death
24:18escaping the city and the country without a trace
24:22Aberdeen in the 1980s
24:33it's an international city
24:35oil was booming
24:37there was people here from all over the world
24:43Detective Inspector James Callender is looking for clues buried deep within the 1983 murder of taxi driver George Murdoch
24:51that could help finally solve the case
24:54there is that chance that the person responsible
24:57is not from this country
24:59maybe is from this country but since left this country
25:02that could be a reason they're not on the DNA database
25:05we have the ability via Interpol to have that checked in the USA, Canada, Australia
25:12as well as most of Europe
25:14with a negative result
25:16so we know the person if they have moved
25:19they're not on their database either
25:22there's another possibility
25:25that the killer wasn't from abroad
25:28but wasn't local either
25:30re-examining the original paperwork
25:36James discovers that the cheese wire
25:38left behind by the killer
25:40is not just a weapon
25:42it's another vital source of clues
25:45ultimately George is strangled
25:49we know the cheese wire actually didn't kill him
25:51but there was a lot of work went into the cheese wire
25:55there was a grey school of art
25:57which wasn't far away from the locusts
25:59it had classes on pottery
26:01of which they would use a cheese wire
26:04we know cheese wire
26:06we know cheese wires were used in the oil industry
26:11detectives found out exactly where the cheese wire was manufactured
26:16from there it was only ever sold by one organisation
26:21the cheese wire was provided by a company that manufacture cheese wares
26:26who told us
26:28that this particular cheese wire
26:30is the only model they ever made of that size
26:33and for Bristol Youth Workshops
26:36the workshops offered employability skills to young people at risk of falling into criminality
26:43we know where it was made
26:46and we know where it was sold from
26:48a company that came into being
26:50to help guys leaving school
26:52maybe not a lot of prospects
26:54down in Bristol
26:56this could be a breadcrumb for James
26:58could the killer have links to the south west of England
27:05he's meeting Adam
27:06an NCA behavioural advisor
27:08at the original crime scene
27:10in terms of trip to Peter Coulter
27:13that would just be straight along this road
27:15that would be straight on yeah
27:16just carry on that road
27:17yeah
27:18yeah
27:19and you're probably a couple of miles from the city centre
27:20that'll be
27:21okay got you
27:22yeah
27:23they're piecing together James' findings
27:25and analysing the mechanics of the murder
27:28looking for more insights into the offender's background
27:31that could advance their DNA investigation
27:35the fact that they end up literally on this pavement
27:39with people coming past on bicycles
27:42and the offender is still carrying on that suit
27:46and I think that's really important
27:49when one of the young lads comes back to check the name of the road
27:54he sees obviously the assailant going back into the car
27:58we are assuming he's taken his
28:00the taxi takings and his wallet
28:03to have that as what's going through your mind
28:06having just killed someone on the pavement
28:08to be returning to the vehicle to profit financially
28:10I think tells you a lot about the sort of individual
28:13yeah yeah yeah
28:14so you'd anticipate a acquisitive crime background
28:16yeah
28:17and similarly the willingness and capability to engage
28:21so violently
28:23that again is telling us something about its history
28:25yeah
28:26and come in prepared
28:28yeah
28:29with a cheeseware
28:31we know it's manufactured in the south of England
28:33but it's found its way up in Aberdeen
28:35I think that's where it gets really difficult
28:37because is it him that's bringing it from Bristol to Aberdeen
28:40or is that journey already taking place
28:43and he just happens to come across it in Aberdeen
28:45the idea that he's either going to Coulter
28:47or he's going to somewhere even more kind of locally constrained
28:50I don't think we would anticipate that to be within the knowledge
28:54of a complete stranger in Aberdeen
28:55to come out with those sort of terms
28:57or indeed to head in this direction
28:58no
28:59anyone with an association or a family connection to Bristol
29:02would be interesting
29:03yeah yeah
29:04but you can't assume that it's going to be there
29:05there is the chance that it's not local but
29:08I've always thought it was
29:11armed with these details
29:13the detectives on the ground are piecing together family histories
29:17searching for connections to Bristol or Scotland
29:30are we okay to come in and have a quick chat?
29:32of course
29:33perfect thank you very much
29:37a positive DNA match with a relative of the killer
29:40would trigger a complex investigation into their family tree
29:45every clue is vital
29:49did you have family like in Scotland around that time
29:52or what's your kind of family history?
29:54I mean I lived in Scotland for a little while
29:56I lived in Lossiemouth
29:57that was years ago
29:58because my dad was in the Navy
30:00he was a philanderer
30:02so I mean I don't know whether
30:04you know he had kids or
30:06you know so
30:07okay
30:08that's interesting
30:09with the latest set of samples gathered
30:18the team are heading back to Aberdeen
30:21in the Navy
30:22in any murder investigation
30:31the public possesses vital information that can lead to a breakthrough
30:35it's something that moves George's remaining family to keep the case in the public eye
30:40you just can't imagine somebody you know and this happening to them
30:47he was one of the two ushers at our wedding
30:51but it's just that the manner of killing which stays with you more than any other
30:56George's nephew Alex and his wife Robina have worked tirelessly to ensure he's never forgotten
31:04fondly remembered as Dodd
31:07the evening before their wedding is a memory they hold dear
31:10at the end of the night
31:12he says right we're off to the dancing
31:14we're going to go to the parley
31:15and somebody says
31:17you can't get in without a toy
31:19and Dodd
31:20he had a clip on
31:21I never knew he had a clip on a toy
31:23I never seen a clip on a toy before
31:25so he takes it off and he says
31:27you can take mine
31:28oh dear
31:32for them this is about both remembering who George was
31:37and demanding the justice denied to him
31:48it's a big part of my life
31:50it was just unconscionable for me not to do anything
31:53I'm not saying we can help or we have helped or whatever
31:56but we still had to do something
32:00for the past four years Robina has tirelessly maintained a Facebook group
32:05dedicated to gathering tips about George's murder
32:11we didn't really know what was going to happen
32:14but it actually took off really quickly
32:17and almost immediately we started getting tips
32:21lots of tips
32:25there was one
32:26which came in pretty quickly
32:32it was a group of young guys who had been out for a night out
32:35they were in Wilson Sports Bar in Market Street in Aberdeen
32:39they happened to sit at the table with this older guy
32:45the discussion in the pub in 2015 took a chilling turn
32:48when the topic shifted to a murdered taxi driver
32:52I believe the guy was pretty drunk
32:55but towards the end of the evening
32:57he became quite emotional very emotional in fact he was in tears
33:00he appeared to know details about a taxi driver's killing
33:06was he talking about George
33:09to this day the police believe the man has information they urgently need
33:15but the only record of the night is a hastily snapped photo of the man in the Iron Maiden t-shirt
33:21that was the post on the July 2023
33:30they weren't able to get a photo of his face just the chin
33:34which is why it was so difficult to identify the guy
33:38and they still haven't
33:40I mean how it was described to us
33:44it's difficult not to get your hopes up
33:47somebody out there knows something
33:52you get emotionally involved with it yourself
33:57trying to help a family who've lost a loved one through murder
34:02some people are of the view
34:05what's the point
34:07I generally don't want to try and justify what we're doing too much
34:12because I know it's worth it
34:14the most frustrating part is the not knowing
34:37James's team have returned to Aberdeen after the latest round of familial DNA sampling
34:42the detectives are contacting some of the people whose test results have come back
34:59hello how are you doing
35:00I'm calling from police Scotland up in Aberdeen
35:03what it is we've had the DNA all tested
35:08and it's all come back
35:09so you can relax now
35:11you've been eliminated
35:13you've been eliminated from the inquiry
35:18meanwhile James is awaiting a crucial phone call
35:21that could connect a relative to George's killer
35:24a breakthrough that would finally expose the truth
35:28not bad you're a bit quiet can you speak up a bit
35:35interesting indeed
35:39D.I. James Callender has been leading the investigation into the 1983 murder of taxi driver George Murdoch for the past four years
36:00he's on his way to George's closest living relatives
36:03he's on his way to George's closest living relatives with an update
36:07every family is different
36:09every next of kin
36:12deals with significant news differently
36:15but families have lost a loved one
36:18they just want to make some sense of it
36:38James Callender and his team are giving a lot to this
36:41they were the last and best hope in terms of getting this solved
36:54it's there's a cause worth fighting for
36:58for years George's nephew Alex and his wife Rabina have looked for answers
37:04they now look to James
37:06we've many many trips up and down the country
37:09and we've been out there basically
37:12capturing people's DNA
37:14quite a lot of them have been sent to the scientists for examination
37:20we haven't got that golden nugget yet
37:24we haven't identified who's responsible yet
37:27but there's a long way to go
37:30the DNA profile and familial DNA work hasn't delivered
37:34yet
37:37but sometimes in searching for answers
37:40a breakthrough can present itself out of nowhere
37:43police are still desperate to identify a man from two sightings
37:47decades apart
37:48one running along North D side road away from the crime scene in 1983
37:53and another wearing an Iron Maiden t-shirt in Wilson's sports bar in 2015
37:57in the meantime the DNA hunt for George's killer continues
38:06we always live in hope
38:08I absolutely believe this person will be identified
38:13if he's dead he's dead but if he's not
38:15you know you'll get him
38:18my team and the forensic guys have managed to get this stage that we never thought we would ever get to
38:37it's hugely important to me of nearing the end of my time as a police officer
38:43there's nothing I'd like more than to detect this before I retire
38:46I quite regularly go out of town
38:55in the in the direction of Kooten
38:57and I pass that scene
39:00and my eyes always flick across
39:04to see pit foddles station road
39:07I just clock it
39:09and it makes me think
39:11gosh they still haven't got George's murderer
39:15over the years
39:19for whatever reason
39:21someone out there
39:22has been withholding information
39:25someone somewhere must know something about this crime
39:37they were just a genuinely lovely couple
39:41that didn't deserve what happened
39:43that if anybody knows anything
39:46do the right thing
39:48let two people rest in peace
39:52I hope they find him
39:59you know if we thought this wasn't worth looking into
40:02it wouldn't have been opened up again
40:04and we've got real hope that we can
40:06we can finally get there
40:09cold cases never close
40:14we don't stop
40:16we keep going
40:19well welcome to Police Scotland
40:34I'm here with James Callender
40:36thank you
40:37it just struck me first
40:39the impact
40:40the waves
40:41the eddying of waves
40:42that this has had
40:43on Aberdeen and beyond
40:44for so many years
40:45and so many people know about it still
40:47it's such a notorious brutal murder for Aberdeen
40:50it's not just had an impact on the family
40:52but I suppose the whole city to be
40:54to be quite frank
40:56obviously Aberdeen looks very different now to this
40:58but the fundamentals are the same
41:00that he's picked up in a very busy area
41:03and because where he was headed to
41:05and where he asked possibly the tax driver to turn into
41:08you think he had local knowledge?
41:11I think so
41:12I think so
41:13Pitfordor Station Road is so small and narrow
41:16I think a local would only know that
41:18yeah
41:19for sure
41:20if you were going to Peter Cooter
41:21you would just stay in the North East Side Road
41:23what age do you think this man was when he did the crime?
41:26we're relying obviously on the cyclists
41:28they've said somewhere between 20 and 30
41:31so we're now 40 almost 42 years on
41:35so let's say somewhere between 60 and 70
41:39then clearly the person isn't on the DNA database
41:41because it would have marched
41:42yes
41:43and so clearly
41:44this man did not commit a crime that's been detected
41:48after DNA came into being
41:50which is probably the mid 90s onwards
41:52but I think history tells you that
41:55people commit most of a crime in their younger years
41:57I was fascinated by the partial image in the sports bar
42:03you could just see the chin
42:05and the Iron Maiden t-shirt
42:07yeah
42:08so we knew he was in the Wilson sports bar
42:10in Market Street in Aberdeen back in 2015
42:13from our perspective
42:14the guy in the Iron Maiden t-shirt
42:16clearly has something we would like to speak to him about
42:19was this a Scottish guy or was it?
42:23yeah local guy we believe to Aberdeen
42:26spoke about the cheeseware murder
42:28he would probably been aged about 60 to 70 at the time
42:32there's a couple of things that have been really interesting in this case over the years
42:36and that is right up there
42:37identifying him is really important
42:39now you have been taking fresh DNA samples
42:43yeah we're probably about maybe a quarter of the way through
42:46it's a huge undertaking
42:49the individuals we've got off the database
42:52are similar to the DNA that we've got for the killer
42:55it's so similar that it could be a family relative
42:58and you think there might be a connection to Bristol?
43:01there may be a connection to Bristol
43:03we know the cheese wire originated from Bristol
43:06and that's an area that we've focused on
43:09with the familial DNA testing
43:11and I'm right in saying there's a £10,000 reward
43:14for a DNA match that helps you
43:18yeah so the family have said they'll give £10,000 to any individual
43:23who gives their DNA that leads to the identity of the killer
43:26and there's a £50,000 reward as well
43:29which is any information that leads to the confirmed identity of the killer
43:32doesn't have to be a conviction because the individual might be dead of course so
43:36and if people have information are there a variety of ways to get in touch with you?
43:41there's loads of ways
43:43you know going to the Police Scotland website
43:45send an email to the contact us
43:47dial 101
43:49everybody knows my name
43:50an email will get to me
43:52but also the family have a Facebook page as well
43:55you can contact anonymously and they hugely encourage that
43:58we'll have to do everything we can to get justice for a family
44:04George you could probably argue is in the wrong place at the wrong time
44:08yeah
44:09just a brutal way to end
44:11not just for him but his poor wife Jessie and the wider family
44:16James thank you very much indeed
44:19and this case is still very much open
44:23so if there's anything that sparks a thought, a memory, a detail
44:28nothing is too small or insignificant
44:31because something that you might remember
44:34something you might think of
44:36could help the Police get to the door of George Murder's Killer
44:41thank you for watching
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