Cadaver dogs used in Suzanne Pilley murder probe

gillyspot Fri 2 Mar - 20:22

BBC News 23 February 2012
"The Suzanne Pilley murder trial in Edinburgh has heard how police used dogs which had been specially trained to find evidence of dead bodies.

The cadaver dogs searched the offices where she worked with David Gilroy, who denies her murder.

The springer spaniels identified three areas of interest in the office's basement garage, and two areas in Mr Gilroy's car boot.

Ms Pilley's body has never been found. The trial is adjourned until Friday.

Defence lawyers said the large number of forensic tests which had been carried out had failed to find any substantial evidence linked to the accused.

David Gilroy, 49, denies seven charges including murder. He is accused of killing Ms Pilley either in Thistle Street or elsewhere in Scotland.

On Wednesday the jury retraced the last known movements of the missing Edinburgh woman.

It followed the route the 38-year-old took to her city centre office on the morning she disappeared on Tuesday 4 May, 2010.

The jury members were accompanied by Mr Gilroy, her former lover and work colleague."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-17142957

Does this remind anyone of a case that we are quite well acquainted with?

gillyspot Fri 2 Mar - 20:39

Better article from Edinburgh Evening news.

Published on Friday 24 February 2012 12:16

A POLICE scene of crime examiner smelt “cleaning fluid or air freshener” in the boot of murder accused David Gilroy’s car which lingered for days, a court has heard.

Mark Heron said that he detected the “fresh, clean fragrance” after opening the boot of the Vauxhall Vectra while describing the rest of the interior as “not particularly clean”.

The court heard that dogs trained to track dead bodies “showed interest” in the boot of the car, which had been seized by detectives after Suzanne Pilley vanished, but forensic experts could find no fibre evidence that the missing bookkeeper was kept inside it.

Two specialist “cadaver dogs” also reacted to three different areas in the garage used by Ms Pilley and Gilroy’s city centre employers.

Mr Heron told the High Court in Edinburgh that the animals were trained to freeze or sit down when they picked up the scent of a body.

He said that he led a team tasked with examining the garage of Infrastructure Management Ltd (IML) in Thistle Street. He carried out the first of up to 15 visits to the garage on May 9, 2010, five days after Ms Pilley was last seen alive.

Mr Heron, 47, said: “The dog made its way round the garage sniffing the garage floor and corners, piping, ducts, all those sorts of items.

“The dog, I can’t remember if it sat down or paused at three specific areas within the garage area.”

The areas were next to the doorway leading to stairs up to IML’s office, and parts of the cement floor of two parking bays in the garage.

Later that day, Mr Heron said he visited the police’s secure garage in Sighthill with the two dog handlers to examine Gilroy’s car.

Advocate depute Alex Prentice QC asked what he experienced when he opened the boot and he said: “I could smell either a cleaning fluid or an air freshener-type smell.”

He said on a subsequent visit to the vehicle, seized by police at around 5am on May 6, he again detected it, adding: “I am 100 per cent certain I could smell it.”

Mr Heron said one of the dogs went into the boot and “showed interest in two areas”. He added: “My observation was that the top right hand corner and the left front corner the dog paused and showed interest in these areas.”

Mr Heron said numerous forensic checks had been conducted in the Thistle Street garage. Defence counsel Jack Davidson QC said there was no forensic link from the examination of the stairway, basement and garage to Gilroy in relation to the inquiry. Mr Heron replied: “Not as far as I am aware.”

Mr Heron agreed that the forensic investigation had been “extensive and detailed”, including 209 tapings to pick up fibres from every inch of the Vectra’s boot, but none was linked to Ms Pilley that he was aware of.

Mr Prentice asked Mr Heron whether a waterproof jacket would shed many fibres, an item of clothing Ms Pilley was wearing shortly before she disappeared. Mr Heron replied: “It would shed very little.”

Gilroy, 49, of Silverknowes Brae, has denied murdering Ms Pilley, 38, on May 4, 2010, at Thistle Street, or elsewhere in Scotland.

Part of the charge alleges that he concealed her body within the premises of IML and transported it to various locations in Scotland in the Vectra’s boot. He is also alleged to have bought air fresheners.

The trial continues.

http://www.scotsman.com/edinburgh-evening-news/suzanne_pilley_trial_court_hears_of_cleaner_smell_in_accused_s_car_1_2137038

12345 Thu 15 Mar - 12:43

Apologies if this has already been posted:

http://m.sky.com/skynews/article/news/16189375

Guest Thu 15 Mar - 12:50

http://web.orange.co.uk/article/news/married_man_guilty_of_killing_ex_lover

flower Thu 15 Mar - 13:24

I wonder what the McCanns think of the verdict. No body, cadavar dog alerts and telling circumstantial evidence..............................

Things may have got a bit hotter under the collar for the McCanns............

jeanmonroe Thu 15 Mar - 13:36

4 years on he'll probably do 'an Adrian Prout'!
Mr Prout who killed his wife, and said 'i didn't do it, i didn't do it...........oh yeah i DID do it, duh, silly me'
The McCanns must be cacking themselves that any one of the T7 will do the same at any time!
Would you do 'time' for those two?
That's what the T7 have to decide.
AND IT WILL BE SO MUCH WORSE FOR THEM AS THEY COULD HAVE OWNED UP IN THE FIRST PLACE.
CONSPIRACY TO PERVERT THE COURSE OF JUSTICE (at the very least) ................UP TO A LIFE SENTENCE!
GL to T7 lol.
Perhaps the McS will visit occaisionally, if they are not to busy writing booooooks!