Dundee Murders
Gordon Dunbar

Episode Summary

James was disappointed that his brother Gordon didn’t turn up to spend Christmas Day with his family, but there was a very good reason for his absence.  

Please Be Advised – This episode may contain content that some may find distressing. As always, we advise listener discretion. This episode it not suitable for anyone under the age of 13.

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ALASTAIR THOMPSON v. HER MAJESTY’S ADVOCATE

Gordon Dunbar, 1992 – DD Tours

“Whenever I’ve heard the expression ‘pure evil’ over the last 25 years I’ve thought about Alastair Thompson”

Murderer who cut up his victim gets life | HeraldScotland

“Whenever I’ve heard the expression ‘pure evil’ over the last 25 years I’ve thought about Alastair Thompson”

Brian Kirk obituary: Superintendent who probed notorious Dundee murders

Detectives Found Human Tissue In Dundee Flat Body In Pond ‘to Look Like Accident’ Detectives Investigating The Murder Of A | Aberdeen Press and Journal | Friday 07 May 1993 | British Newspaper Archive

Murderer who cut up his victim gets life | HeraldScotland

Montrose Visitor Guide – Accommodation, Things To Do & More | VisitScotland

Dundee Law – Wikipedia

Pig’s Head ‘gift’ For Newsman In ” Casw? A Pig’s Head.was Thrown Through The Wfifidow or A Dundee Journalist’s* Home | Aberdeen Press and Journal | Wednesday 08 September 1993 | British Newspaper Archive

Law Murder Appeal Wins Continuation | Dundee Courier | Friday 13 May 1994 | British Newspaper Archive

About Sacro | Sacro

Murder-Accused Denied | Aberdeen Press and Journal | Wednesday 12 May 1993 | British Newspaper Archive

Butterburn Court | UK Housing Wiki | Fandom

National Summary and Outlook Thompson Has Appeal Continued | Dundee Courier | Saturday 22 January 1994 | British Newspaper Archive

Births, M Arri, Ages and Deaths Dunbar Murder: Appeal Lodged | Dundee Courier | Thursday 17 March 1994 | British Newspaper Archive

The Law Killers: True Crime from Dundee

by Alexander McGregor

Synopsis

True crime from Dundee, covering the most fascinating and shocking cases from the last century. Having reported on many of them first-hand, journalist Alexander McGregor has unique insight into the cases and his stories are as chilling as they are compelling. In The Law Killers Alexander examines some of the country’s most fascinating and chilling cases and peels back the civilised layers of our society to reveal what lies beneath.

Scottish Murders is a production of Cluarantonn

Hosted by Dawn

Researched and Written by Dawn Young

Produced and Edited by Dawn Young and Peter Bull

Voice Talent by Eleanor Morton

Production Company Name by Granny Robertson

Music:

Dawn of the Fairies by Derek & Brandon Fiechter

Gothic Wedding by Derek & Brandon Fiechter

Dawn:

Trigger warning. This episode contains gruesome details that some listeners may find disturbing, so listener discretion is advised.

Before I begin, a lot of the information for this story I got from The Law Killers by Alexander McGregor, which is a book all about murders that have happened in Dundee.

It was Christmas Eve 1992, some people were carrying out last minute preparations for the Christmas Day festivities the following day, while others had started the celebrations already and were enjoying a pint or two at their local pub. Also enjoying themselves that night were two women who had struck up a conversation with two men at Arthur’s Nightclub in St Andrew’s Lane in Dundee. The four had a great night at the nightclub drinking, dancing and laughing Christmas Eve away, and before they knew it it was well into Christmas Day. Wanting to keep the party going, at about 2.30am the women invited the men back to theirs to carry on drinking and partying and they both accepted. One of the men in particular was the life and soul of the small party, keeping the others entertained until about 5am when he finally left, and all would have agreed that they had a great night, and they wouldn’t have believed for one second that there had been a murderer in their midst.

James was really looking forward to Christmas Day this year as his half-brother, Gordon, would be coming to spend the day with his family and have his Christmas meal with them. James knew that Gordon had not had it easy lately and that he’d been quite despondent, so he hoped that Gordon being around all of his family would cheer him up.

Gordon Dunbar had returned to Dundee recently having lived in France for a time with his French partner. Gordon and his male partner had opened up a café in Arras in France, which had proved very popular with the gay community. However, sadly, Gordon and his partner had split up and the business had failed, resulting in a heartbroken Gorden returning to Dundee. Gordon had lived in Scotland since the age of 11, having grown up in the Belgium Congo, now known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo, with his parents. It’s not known what happened to Gordon’s parents but at the age of 11 Gordon moved to Scotland and lived with his aunt in Montrose, which is about 38 miles or 61 kilometres north of Dundee. As a young man, Gordon had become an architect and worked for the city on some big local projects. Upon Gordon’s aunt dying he received an inheritance, which is when he moved to France to begin a new life.

However, that life was now well and truly behind Gordon, as in December 1992 he was living in a hostel in Dundee for the homeless and unemployed. According to The Law Killers book, Gordon’s fellow residents at the hostel said that he was colourful in appearance but responsible, quiet and friendly, and that he made no secret about the fact he was gay. Gordon was also said to like jewellery and wore a single earring and a nine carat gold bracelet, which had been made from his grandfather’s watch chain.

The last time Gordon had been seen was on Christmas Eve 1992. He had left the hostel where he was living in the late morning wearing his distinctive long coat and said he was going to visit at the town centre. He was next seen in a bar in Union Street where he spent some time having a festive drink or two with some of the residents from the hostel, before leaving here about 6.30pm and heading to another bar a few yards along the same street. He stayed here for about 15 minutes before leaving, and it was said that he had been alone. Gordon next attended a grocery shop in Hilltown, about a 19 minute walk from the pub, where he bought, according to The Law Killers book, cheese, garlic, granules and powdered soup. Gordon Dunbar wasn’t seen alive again. So where had Gordon gone after leaving the grocery shop?

On Christmas Day, James was disappointed that his half-brother Gordon didn’t turn up for the planned Christmas meal, but he wasn’t initially concerned, maybe Gordon was having a bad day and didn’t feel like spending his time celebrating with his family, maybe it just felt too much for him at this time.  And so the family carried on without Gordon; they ate, opened presents and had a merry time. However, as the days went by and James didn’t hear from Gordon his annoyance at Gordon not even calling to apologise turned to worry, and then fear, when he phoned the hostel where Gordon was staying to be told by the landlord that Gordon hadn’t been seen since Christmas Eve, a week earlier.  This was the point that James began to pray that the body parts that had been found on Dundee Law were not those of his brother, Gordon Dunbar.

Sergeant Ronald Fyffe had enjoyed having Christmas Day and a few days afterwards off to spend time with his wife and young daughter, but it was now the 30th of December and it was time to get back to some normality at the police station. Ronald was in charge of Tayside Police’s dog section and was in charge himself of two Alsatians, Dirk and Tyke, who he exercised up to five times a day on Dundee Law, which was close to his home.

According to Wikipedia, Dundee Law is a hill in the centre of Dundee. It has a war memorial at its summit, is the highest point in the city and is the most prominent feature on the local skyline. Apparently, The Law is what remains of a volcanic sill, which is the result of volcanic activity around 400 million years ago.

Ronald had been called to the police station to take care of other business and, so, on the 30th of December 1992 the morning exercise of the two dogs had fallen to Ronald’s young daughter. She didn’t mind though as Dirk and Tyke were part of the family. Ronald’s young daughter led Dirk and Tyke to Law Road at the bottom of Dundee Law before taking their leads off, expecting them to tear up The Law leaving her to chase after them. But they didn’t do this. Instead the two dogs went straight to three plastic bags that had been left in a grassy area at the bottom of The Law on Law Road. Ronald’s young daughter assumed this was just household rubbish that had been left there and went towards the dogs to shoo them away. However, by the time she reached the dogs and the plastic bags the two dogs had torn one of the bags open, revealing to Ronald’s daughter as she grew closer a severed human arm and hand. Ronald’s young daughter, in a state of fright, put the leads back on the two Alsatians and ran home, where she told her mother what she had seen. Her mother, Pamela, had no doubt her young daughter was telling the truth as she was clearly distressed, and so Pamela immediately called her husband, Ronald, at the police station.

Before long there was a large police presence at the bottom of Dundee Law on Law Road. The two other plastic bags that had been left at the bottom of The Law were opened and revealed, according to The Law Killers book, part of the upper portion of a human torso in one bag and the lower human torso section and upper arm in the other bag. As there was no head found at this time, it made identifying the victim tricky.

Before an appeal could be made to try and identify the killer, firstly the victim had to be identified, and so the parts of the body that had been found were forensically examined and tested until finally the police had a description of sorts to be able to appeal to the public for information on the 31st of December 1992. They advised that from examining the male body parts that had been found on the law on the 30th of December, it could be determined that the male had, according to The Law Killers book, at one time undergone surgery to his stomach and had suffered a fracture to four ribs.  Marks on his left wrist also indicated that a thick bracelet of some kind had regularly been worn there. It was also stated that the male had well maintained hands with fairly long, well manicured fingernails, and was also suntanned. He was thought to be aged between 30 to 50 and be about 5 feet 10 inches or 1.5 metres tall. What wasn’t put in the appeal that had also been found out while examining the body parts was that there had been anal tearing identified, suggesting that the male victim could have been homosexual and that sex may have taken place shortly before his murder.

Keen to find the remaining body parts to be able to build a better picture of how the victim had died, the police, according to The Law Killers book, carried out extensive searches, including sifting through more than 100 tons of Dundee domestic rubbish due to being incinerated. However, despite the extensive searches and the appeal, no further body parts were found at this time.

The police at this point had done all they could, they now needed someone to come forward who recognised the description in the appeal, someone who could positively identify the victim.

James knew he had to phone the police upon hearing the appeal about the male body parts that had been found, but he was in complete shock. Not his brother. It couldn’t possibly be his lovely, kind, quiet brother who the police were describing. But he knew deep down that it was. He knew that his brother had had abdominal surgery, he knew that his brother had four ribs broken one time when he was mugged, he knew his brother took care of himself and had regular manicures, he knew it was him they were describing, he knew. James, with tears in his eyes, picked up the telephone and called the police to let them know that he believed the body parts they had found were his brother, 52 year old Gordon Dunbar.

Upon the police receiving the telephone call from James Dunbar, who confirmed that his brother Gordon had had stomach surgery and previously had four ribs broken, as well as confirming that his brother was homosexual, the police and forensics wasted no time in attending Anchor House, where James mentioned Gordon had been living. Gordon’s room was forensically examined and fingerprints and DNA were collected, which were positively matched to that of the body parts. Now the police had identified the victim as being Gordon Dunbar, they now just needed to identify his murderer. And so they issued another appeal asking for people to come forward if they had any information around Gordon Dunbar’s murder.

While the police waited for information to come in, they began to try and trace Gordon’s last known movements. They began by talking to his fellow residents at Anchor House Hostel, and a few of them said that they had had a drink with Gordon at a bar in Union Street, before he left about 6.30pm to head to another pub further along the street, confirming that he was wearing his distinctive long coat. They also confirmed that Gordon had left the pub alone and that he hadn’t said he was meeting anyone. The police also spoke to Gordon’s landlord at Anchor House, who said that Gordon had left early morning on Christmas Eve saying that he was heading into Dundee, and he said he had been wearing his distinctive long coat. The police were keen to find out Gordon’s movements while he was in Dundee that day, and the search of Gordon’s room at Anchor House would soon turn up some answers. Gordon’s bank had posted out a statement, and upon closer inspection it showed that Gordon had attended his bank on the morning of Christmas Eve, where he had deposited £60 or $75. However, another transaction on the bank statement that occurred on the evening of Christmas Eve caught the detectives eye. It appeared that Gordon had withdrawn £150 or $188 from a cash machine at 9.22pm on Christmas Eve in Commercial Street, which is a two-minute walk from where Gordon was last seen in Union Street and a 34-minute walk from where some of Gordon’s body parts were found at the bottom of Dundee Law. But why would Gordon deposit money on Christmas Eve morning and then withdraw over double the amount again that same evening? Was it perhaps the killer who had done this?

The police then began receiving information from the public which further helped them trace Gordon’s movements on Christmas Eve. A grocery shop owner told the police that he had served Gordon in his shop on Christmas Eve shortly after 7pm, where he had bought cheese, garlic granules and powdered soup. The bags that the body parts had been found in were also forensically examined and it was established that they had been from a particular batch that had been supplied to Spar shops in Dundee, and the closest Spar shop where the body parts had been found was in Hilltown, about a 19 minute walk from Dundee Law, and also the same area where Gordon had bought his groceries on Christmas Eve. So, the police were starting to build a picture of Gordon’s movements that fateful evening. However, his grocery purchases, speaking to the residents and landlord at Gordon’s hostel and from forensically examining Gordon’s room, wasn’t taking the police any closer to identifying a suspect.

That was until the 8th of January 1993 when police received a phone call from a male living in Perth, about 22 miles or 35 kilometres from Dundee, saying that a man called Alistair Thompson had spent the New Year weekend in Perth and that he’d talked in great detail about the Dundee Law murder.

Alistair Thompson was known to the police as in 1967, when he was 18 years old, he had been given a life sentence and ordered to spend at least 16 years in prison before being eligible for parole, having been found guilty of murdering his grandmother by stabbing her 16 times with a carving knife in a frenzied attack, before hitting her in the head twice with a hammer, smashing her skull. Alistair had spent his 16 year sentence in Perth prison, and upon being released in 1984 on license he married a social worker that he had met while in prison. The marriage didn’t last long though and Alistair had moved to England. However, he found himself back in prison again in 1989 having been charged with serious assault, for which he spent two years and six months in prison for. He was released in January 1992, where he returned to Dundee and secured a job working, according to The Law Killers book, as a resident caretaker at a home used by the Scottish Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders, whose aim, according to sacro.org.uk is to provide a wide range of direct, innovative services in community justice, public protection and care and housing, which are all designed to help build safe communities by reducing conflict and offending, and at the time of Gordon Dunbar’s murder 43 year old Alistair Thompson was still working as the caretaker for this organisation.

Upon receiving the phone call from the male from Perth who gave Alistair Thompson’s name as possibly being connected to Gordon Dunbar’s brutal murder and dismemberment, detectives headed to Perth to take a statement from the man, and any other potential witnesses they could trace. Following the visit to Perth, the police not only came away with statements from witnesses who had been in Alistair’s company on the New Year weekend in Perth, but also in possession of an antique gold chain that Alistair had given to a female he knew in Perth, which matched exactly the gold chain that Gordon wore on his left wrist. With the police feeling confident they had enough evidence to arrest Alistair Thompson for the murder of Gordon Dunbar, they arrived at the home where Alistair Thompson was a residential caretaker and had a room and arrested him and took him to the station for questioning.

While Alistair was at the police station, police and forensics officers were examining Alistair’s room, and what they found cemented their belief that Alistair Thompson was the man who had murdered Gordon Dunbar. Hidden in a suitcase under Alistair Thompson’s bed was a blood-stained shirt, trousers and a t-shirt. Also found in the room was a block of cheese, garlic granules and powdered soup, the exact items Gordon had bought at a local grocers before disappearing. A scrap of paper with four numbers written on it was also found in the room, as well as a distinctive long coat, which would later be identified as Gordon’s by his brother. But it was a set of keys found in Alistair Thompson’s room that was even more interesting.  It was quickly established that none of the keys opened any door in the property he was living in. But the mystery surrounding where the keys did open would soon be solved, when an electricity bill with the address 91 Butterburn Court on it was also found in Alistair’s room. And it just so happened the Butterburn Court was located close to Dundee Law, and overlooked the exact place where the body parts in plastic bags had been found.

According to the website UK Housing, Butterburn Court was built in 1971, and, at 67 metres or 220 feet tall, it was one of Dundee’s tallest tower blocks, with flat 91 being on the ninth floor of the 22 floors.

After a few checks it was determined that the occupant of 91 Butterburn Court was that of a murderer who was out on license. Could this male also have been involved in the murder of Gordon Dunbar? No, he wasn’t, as it was quickly established that the man who had once occupied the flat at 91 Butterburn Court had left Dundee and moved to London two months prior. Just how Alistair Thompson had come to have the keys of 91 Butterburn Court was never determined, but it was likely that he and the occupant of the flat had been acquaintances in prison, or he and Alistair Thompson had become known to one another through the Scottish Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders Organisation, where Alistair was currently a residential caretaker for them, and perhaps the occupant had handed the keys to Alistair upon him leaving, assuming that Alistair would arrange for a new occupant to move into 91 Butterburn Court. Little did the previous occupant know that Alistair had other ideas of how the flat could be used.

Having discovered the Butterburn Court address and still having the set of keys that didn’t fit in any of the locks at Alistair’s lodgings, the police set off to Butterburn Court, and soon discovered that this indeed was the property where the keys fitted. Upon unlocking the door, the police opened the door of the flat and entered.

Back at the premises where Alistair was residing, while his room was being forensically examined, his fellow residents were being questioned to see if they could remember anything odd about Alistair on Christmas Eve 1992, and the police wouldn’t be disappointed. According to a couple of residents, on Christmas Eve Alistair had returned to the premises shortly before 10.30pm. They said he had been very jovial, flashing cash that he said he had won on the races and wearing a distinctive long coat that he said had been given to him by a female friend as an early Christmas present. They said he had then washed, changed his clothes and headed back out again to enjoy the rest of the Christmas Eve celebrations. Armed with this information, and the evidence that had been found in his room, detectives returned to the police station to question Alistair Thompson about his involvement in Gordon Dunbar’s murder. They started by asking what his relationship to Gordon Dunbar was, how did he know him, and had he had sex with him, to which Alistair stated that he had never been in the company of Gordon Dunbar, he didn’t know him and denied having sex with him. The police then asked how he had come to be in possession of Gordon’s gold chain, as well as a key fob of Gordon’s, which had also been given to another acquaintance of Alistair’s in Perth, to which Alistair stated that he had found both items on the street in Dundee and he had just picked them up, going on to say that, yes, he had given them to acquaintances of his.  The detectives followed up by asking how Gordon’s exact shopping purchases had come to be in Alistair’s room, to which Alistair just shrugged. They asked about the blood-soaked clothing under his bed, but again he just shrugged. Detectives realised they wouldn’t be getting a confession from Alistair, but they were still confident they had more than enough evidence to prove that Alistair had been involved in Gordon’s murder, which was just about to be compounded when police officers opened the door to 91 Butterburn Court.

Upon officers opening the flat door of 91 Butterburn court and walking into the living area, they saw plastic bags similar to the ones that the body parts had been found in. They also found a roll of tape similar to what had been used to seal the plastic bags the body parts had been in. Officers were already feeling pretty sure that this is where the body of Gordon Dunbar had been dismembered, however, their suspicions were confirmed when they walked into the bathroom and found it splattered with blood and body tissue, and on the bathroom floor lay two hacksaws; one broken but both covered in blood. The whole flat was subsequently forensically examined, which only further confirmed Alistair Thompson’s involvement in the murder and dismemberment of Gordon Dunbar. However, back at the police station, upon these latest developments being passed onto the detectives questioning Alistair, he was told he was going to be charged with the murder and dismemberment of Gordon Dunbar, but firstly he was asked, according to the Aberdeen Press and Journal on the 12th of May 1993, if he could help with the recovery of the missing pieces of Gordon’s body, for the sake of Gordon’s family, to which Alistair replied that he knew nothing whatsoever about the murder of Gordon Dunbar. He was then taken away to be held in custody until his trial, while the police continued to take statements from witnesses who called in with information, as well as the results becoming available from the forensic examination of Alistair’s room and 91 Butterburn Court, which all pointed to Alistair Thompson being Gordon’s murderer.

As word spread around Dundee about Gordon’s murder and dismemberment, more and more people came forward with information. One of which was a male who had apparently been the one to lend Alistair the hacksaws, and he had a very interesting story to tell. According to The Law Killers book, this male said that Alistair had asked him on Christmas Day if he could borrow a hacksaw so he could cut up some pipes. However, the very next day Alistair approached his friend again saying that the hacksaw had broken and could he borrow another one, and at which point he admitted his friend that he was using the hacksaws to try and cut up a body, which apparently he was doing for two hitmen from Glasgow who had actually killed the man he was trying to dispose of. Apparently Alistair continued by saying that he’d already disposed of some of the body parts having placed them in plastic bags and taken them to Dudhope Park, an 18-minute walk from Dundee Law and Butterburn Court. He went on to say that he had also disposed of the head of Gordon already by putting it in a skip. He also said that he would be dumping the rest of the body parts at Dundee Law as it was closer. Apparently Alistair also asked the same man if he had an open fire in his home as he wanted to get rid of Gordon Dunbar’s bank card, with the man confirming to the police that Alistair did actually use Gordon Dunbar’s name when referring to the man he was dismembering. The man he had told this to, who was now recounting the conversation to the police, said that he thought Alistair was just joking. However, the police took this very seriously and a team of officers went to Dudhope Park to carry out a search of the area, where they did in fact uncover more of the same plastic bags that had been dumped at the bottom of Dundee Law. Upon forensics being called to the scene, the bags were opened and revealed a lower leg, feet, one of which was in a lady’s stocking, and the remaining arm. Sadly, Gordon’s head and the rest of his upper torso were never found. The police already had so much evidence against Alistair, as well as numerous witnesses coming forward, but the icing on the cake came from forensics.

According to the Press and Journal on the 12th of May 1993, DNA profiling had been carried out on samples taken from a shirt found at the hostel where Alistair Thompson lived and a rug from the Butterburn Court flat, and were found to match those taken from the body parts, with an estimated probability of the DNA profile from the shirt and rug samples matching someone other than the deceased being less than one in 57 million. Also, according to the Press and Journal on the 7th of May 1993, fingerprints matching Alistair Thompson were found on a glass that had been in the flat at 91 Butterburn Court. So, now Alistair Thompson could categorically be placed in the flat where Gordon Dunbar had been murdered and dismembered.  The police now believed they had a good idea of the events that had taken place on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, they just needed the results of the post-mortem to confirm exactly how Gordon had died.

On Christmas Eve morning Gordon had gone into Dundee town centre and had deposited some money at his bank, before spending some time around Dundee. He then attended a pub on Union Street, where he spent some time in the company of fellow residents of Anchor House. About 6.30pm he left this pub and went to another one a few yards along the same street, where he had one drink then left about 6.45pm. He then made his way to the Hilltown area, about a 19 minute walk from Union Street, where he stopped at the grocery shop and bought cheese, garlic granules and powdered soup, before leaving the shop. It is believed that he met Alistair Thompson upon leaving this shop to walk home. Upon meeting Alistair Thompson, Gordon must have been persuaded somehow to accompany Alistair to the flat at Butterburn Court, which is a 19 minute walk from the Hilltown area, presumably to have sex. Upon entering the Butterburn Court flat, it appears things carried on in that vein as the post-mortem showed that Gordon did have sex, it just wasn’t clear if this happened before or after his death. However, at some point things turned sinister when Alistair is presumed to have threatened Gordon and robbed him, taking his gold chain from his wrist, his bank card, his long distinctive coat, and a key fob, before making Gordon write down his bank card code, which was later found on a scrap bit of paper in his room. The results of the post-mortem showed that Alistair had then proceeded to brutally punch and kick Gordon before stabbing him repeatedly, with a stab to Gordon’s heart being the cause of death. Alistair then put on Gordon’s distinctive long coat, presumably to hide the blood that would have been on him, then picked up Gordon’s bag with the groceries in it and left the flat. Alistair then walked to a cash machine and used Gordon’s bank card to withdraw £150 or $188 from his account using the four-digit bank code he had forced Gordon to give him, before he returned to his residence where he chatted with his fellow residents who asked him where he had got his distinctive long coat,

with Alistair saying it was an early Christmas present from a female friend. He then headed to his room where he washed and changed his clothes, before he left his room and Gordon’s groceries behind. He then headed to Arthur’s Nightclub in St Andrew’s Lane where he drank, danced, laughed and saw in Christmas Day, before accompanying two women and a male he had met that night to the female’s home, where he continued to party until 5am before leaving. Later on Christmas Day, he then asked his friend for a hacksaw, before returning to Butterburn Court flat where he carried Gordon’s body into the bathroom and placed it in the bath before beginning to dismember his body. He then placed the body parts in plastic bags, which he dumped at Dudhope Park and at the base of Dundee Law. After carrying out this atrocious act, he then travelled the 22 miles or 35 kilometres to Perth where he spent it with friends seeing in the New Year, and giving two of the friends Gordon’s wrist chain and key fob.

The trial began on the 5th of May 1993 at the High Court in Edinburgh, where Alistair Thompson faced the charge of murdering Gordon Dunbar and attempting to defeat the ends of justice by dismembering his body. At the trial all the evidence, including photographs of the scene of the crime and the post-mortem, were presented and witnesses gave their testimony. Alistair Thompson did not take to the stand, but his defence was that he had no part in the murder of Gordon Dunbar and that he had merely helped the two hitmen who had murdered Gordon by getting rid of Gordon’s body for them. No, the members of the jury didn’t believe that story either and on the 13th of May 1993, after an hour and ten minutes of deliberating, the jury returned with a unanimous verdict of guilty.  Before Judge Lord Weir gave Alistair Thompson his sentence he addressed the jury, telling them that “I would not have wished your task on my worst enemy. You have had to listen to sordid, distasteful and horrendous evidence.” He then turned his attention to 43 year old Alistair Thompson, where he gave him a life sentence and to spend at least 20 years in prison before being eligible for parole for his “nauseating and barbaric crimes”. Alistair was then led away.

One reporter who was present at the trial as the guilty verdict was read out stated in The Courier newspaper on the 30th of December 2017 that he would never forget Alistair’s chilling stare in court that he directed to anyone who looked at him after the guilty verdict was returned, and he called them his evil eyes.

And that should have been the end of Alistair Thompson, and Gordon Dunbar’s family should have been able to grieve in peace, but Alistair Thompson had other ideas. Firstly, there were the appeals. One appeal, which was issued shortly after Alistair’s conviction, was subsequently withdrawn, however, in 1994 a second appeal was issued which alleged a miscarriage of justice due to the fact that there was apparently insufficient evidence for the jury to return a guilty verdict on the murder charge, however, as expected, this appeal was duly refused. Then in 2002 a third appeal was issued, which Alistair Thompson conducted himself, this time on the grounds of Judge Lord Weir fixing Alistair Thompson’s punishment part of his sentence to a minimum of 20 years, which Alistair felt was excessive. However, following the appeal judges going through the trial documentation and taking note not only of the barbaric murder but also the act of dismembering Gordon’s body to avoid detection, the trial judges were not persuaded that the punishment period selected by Judge Lord Weir was, excessive, and therefore the appeal was refused. But still Gordon’s family couldn’t grieve in peace. What could only be described as a final act of malice, Alistair Thompson then wrote a letter to Gordon Dunbar’s family offering to tell them where he had hidden the remaining parts of Gordon’s body. According to the Courier newspaper on the 30th of December 2017, in the same letter Alistair also expressed regret over the murder of Gordon and for the pain and anguish it had caused, before going on to offer Gordon’s family a full account of exactly what had taken place on Christmas Eve 1992. Disgusted by this and simply wanting to be left alone to try and go on with their lives, Gordon’s family took legal action to ensure they did not receive any further correspondence from Alistair Thompson.

Alistair died behind bars in 2010 from a heart attack.

Gordon’s brother, James, who lives in Carnoustie, said in an article in The Courier newspaper on the 30th of December 2017, 25 years after his brothers brutal murder, that he still hasn’t come to terms with the events that happened in Butterburn Court. He went on to say that “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. Once it is out of view, it goes to the back of my mind again, but it doesn’t go away.”

On the 30th of June 2013 Butterburn Court was demolished by a controlled explosion.

So that’s it. Come back next time for another episode of Scottish Murders.

Granny Robertson:

Scottish Murder is a production of Cluarantonn.