THOMAS ROSS YOUNG v. HER MAJESTY'S ADVOCATE

Appellant: Kerrigan, QC; Latif; Gilchrist; Drummond Miller LLP (for George Mathers & Co, Aberdeen)

Introduction [1] The appellant was convicted at the High Court in Glasgow on 25 October 1977 of eight charges on an indictment, including a charge of murder, two charges of attempted murder, two charges of rape, a charge of assault and robbery, a charge of assault and a charge of theft. Each of these offences was committed between May and July 1977, in Glasgow or the surrounding area. All but one of the offences involved violence towards women, and many involved a significant sexual element. The most serious charge was in the following terms:

"(11) Between 10 and 27 June 1977, both dates inclusive, at the service road leading to Inchneuk Farm, Glenboig, or elsewhere in Scotland to the prosecutor unknown, you did assault Frances Barker, 289 Maryhill Road, Glasgow and did compress her throat, tie a ligature around her neck, push a pair of pants into her mouth and did murder her".

[2] On 2 November 1977 the appellant lodged a note of appeal against conviction, but on 3 January 1978 this appeal was abandoned.

[5] The hypothesis which underlay the conclusion of the Operation Trinity investigation was that it may be possible to link crimes to form a series on the basis of perpetrator behavioural similarity, to enable a conclusion to be reached as to the likelihood of the crimes being perpetrated by the same person or persons. Although in the course of these proceedings this practice was referred to by several names, we propose to refer to it throughout as "Case Linkage Analysis" ("CLA").