Templeton Woods murders
| Templeton Woods murders | |
|---|---|
Entrance to Templeton Woods where Carol Lannen and Elizabeth McCabe's bodies were found | |
Last sighting of McCabe Last sighting of Lannen Site McCabe found Site Lannen found The locations where McCabe and Lannen were last seen in Dundee, and the locations they were both found dead | |
| Date | March 20, 1979 (Lannen) February 11, 1980 (McCabe) |
| Accused | Angus Sinclair (both) Andrew Hunter (Lannen separately) Vincent Simpson (McCabe separately) |
The Templeton Woods murders are the collective name coined by the press for the Murder of Carol Lannen in 1979 and Murder of Elizabeth McCabe in 1980 in Dundee, Scotland. Templeton Woods was where both bodies were discovered eleven months apart and both women disappeared from the centre of Dundee at nighttime, also eleven months apart. At times during investigation, police and media have believed the cases to be linked to one another, and at other times, believed the cases to be not linked.
Murder of Carol Lannen
Murder of Elizabeth McCabe
Cold case inquiries
In 1996, Tayside Police ordered a new review to take place of the murders of Elizabeth McCabe and Carol Lannen, following the reopening of the Bible John case in Glasgow.[1]
In 2004, detectives from three police forces in Scotland announced that there were "strong links" between the then-unsolved murders of seven young women, including the murders of McCabe and Lannen and the World's End murders.[2] These murders were investigated under Operation Trinity, and serial killer Angus Sinclair was identified as the prime suspect in all of the murders.[1][3] Sinclair was subsequently convicted of the World's End Murders on DNA evidence and remains the prime suspect in three of the other murders: that of Anna Kenny, Hilda McAuley and Agnes Cooney in Glasgow during 1977.[1] However, it was discovered that Sinclair definitely could not have committed the murders of Lannen and McCabe, since prison records show that he was imprisoned when both of the murders occurred.[3]
In 2004, police linked to the murders of Lannen and McCabe together with five murders across Scotland as part of Operation Trinity, although police subsequently announced that the Templeton Woods murders were not linked to the other five cases and said in 2005 that there was no evidence to link the murders of Lannen and McCabe at that stage.[2][4][5]
Investigators subsequently ruled out a link between the Templeton Woods murders and the five other cases, and also ruled out a link between the murders of Lannen and McCabe themselves.[4]
Media
| External videos | |
|---|---|
| In the Footsteps of Killers series 2 episode 1 |
In 2004, both the Lannen and McCabe cases featured on the STV documentary series Unsolved, which focused on some of Scotland's most notorious unsolved murders.
In 2023, Channel 4 documentary In the Footsteps of Killers concurred with author of The Law Killers Alexander McGregor, that convicted wife murderer (who later died in prison) Andrew Hunter worked with Lannen and may have murdered her as he had strangled his second wife. Hunter also drove a red Ford Cortina.
Further reading
- McGregor, Alexander (4 September 2013). The Law Killers: True Crime from Dundee. Black & White Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84502-725-4.
- Clark, Chris; Lloyd, Adam (2021-09-21). Gone Fishing: The Unsolved Crimes of Angus Sinclair. Mango Books. ISBN 978-1-914277-20-7.
References
- ^ a b c "'He simply slipped the net': 40 years on from notorious unsolved Templeton Woods murder". The Courier (Dundee). 26 February 2020. Retrieved 3 December 2022.
- ^ a b "The seven unsolved murders". BBC News. 7 May 2004. Retrieved 3 December 2022.
- ^ a b Clark, Chris; Lloyd, Adam (2021). Gone Fishing: The Unsolved Crimes of Angus Sinclair. London: Mango Books. pp. 117–123. ISBN 978-1-914277-22-1.
- ^ a b "New information on Dundee deaths". BBC News. 9 November 2004. Retrieved 4 December 2022.
- ^ "Man questioned over 1980 murder". BBC News. 15 July 2005. Retrieved 4 December 2022.