The Unsolved Murder of George Murdoch Revisited: A Family's Quest for Justice - Part1 - Scottish Murders

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:27):
Welcome to another episode of Scottish Murders. So this week's
episode is an update episode, specifically an update on an
unsolved murder case we covered back in twenty twenty one
our second of our episode the unsolved murder of George Murder,
a fifty eight year old taxi driver in Aberdeen on
the twenty ninth of September nineteen eighty three. I was

(00:49):
so pleased when after releasing that episode, we were contacted
by George's family member Robina, who also wrote the book
The Last Fair, which I also read as part of
my research for this case, and it was so beautifully
written by Rabina. It really brought George and his wife
Jesse to life for me. Robina, along with her husband Alec,
who is the nephew of George, and Alex's brother Robert,

(01:11):
who has sadly now passed away, have been the driving
force behind bringing more awareness to George Murdock's brutal murder.
They have never given in and plan to continue to
keep George and his story in the spotlight, always in
the hope that one day his killer will be brought
to justice. Now, Robina emailed me following us releasing this
episode about George Murdock's murder, and we were so pleased

(01:34):
when she said that we had done a great job
covering the case and that we'd been pretty accurate in
our retelling of the case. That really meant so much
to us, as that is always what is at the
back of my mind when researching and writing episodes, being
accurate and only telling facts and never opinions, and always
being respectful and telling the victim's story as compassionately as possible,

(01:57):
So that meant a lot to both myself and Cole.
Robina and I have actually kept in touch ever since
via email. Was Robina also keeping me updated over the
years when there have been any new developments in the case,
but until now we have never actually seen or spoken
to each other other than via email. So I was
absolutely delighted that both George's nephew Alec and his wife

(02:18):
Robina agreed to speak to me for this episode, and
it was an absolute pleasure talking to them both at last. However,
before we get to my conversation with Alec and Rabina, firstly,
I want to introduce you to Ryan, the host and
producer behind the award winning podcast who is the Cheesewire Killer.
For this five part episode podcast, Ryan spoke to George's

(02:40):
nephew Alec and Alec's wife Robina, as well as Detective
Inspector James Callender, who continues to work along with his
colleagues or George's case as and when any new leads
come in. Ryan also spoke to George and Jesse's next
door neighbor at the time of George's murder, who was
a thirteen year old boy at the time and who
was so compassionate and caring towards Jesse, George's wife following

(03:03):
his murder and really help to get Jesse through the
most difficult time of our life, the loss of our
beloved husband. It's a beautiful story that will fill your heart.
So if you're unaware of this case, you can either
listen to our second of our episode, The Cheese Wire Killer,
A taxi Driver's Last Fair, or you can listen to
Ryan's podcast Who Is the Cheese Wire Killer, where you

(03:24):
can hear the full story and hear from those who
have been involved in the case for quite some time,
as well as here reenactments which bring George and Jesse
to life. That's Who Is the Cheese Ware Killer? If
you have listened to those episodes or are already aware
of the case. Let's hear from Ryan now when he
gives a bit of a recap just to remind everyone

(03:44):
of the murder of fifty eight year old George Murder.
Welcome to the podcast. Ryan, it's really nice to have
you on.

Speaker 2 (03:51):
It's grillat to be here. Thank you.

Speaker 1 (03:53):
I've waited so long for this. It's been in the
making for a while.

Speaker 2 (03:57):
Yes, about a year, no, but we did it. It's
taking a year to get together, but we've events done it.
Eight o'clock on a Friday night, brilliant.

Speaker 3 (04:07):
Okay.

Speaker 1 (04:08):
So obviously we're here today to talk about George Murdoch's case,
which obviously covered in your podcast Who's the Cheesewa Killer?
So can you just for our listeners just give us
a little debrief about what the case is about.

Speaker 2 (04:20):
So, George Murdoch was an Aberdeen taxi driver. In the
twenty ninth of September ninety eighty three, George out in
his normal for his normal working taxi job, who was
fifty eight years old at the time. He left his
house at four pm the afternoon and that night he
dropped somebody off in his taxi. He called into his

(04:40):
office to say that he'd picked somebody else up at
the side of the street, and for some unknown reason
he turned into a side road called Farll Station Road
in Aberdeen, just in the west end of Aberdeen, about
ten minute drive from the city center from where he
would have picked up the person. He drove into this
road and for some reason the passenger behind from behind

(05:01):
him took a cheesewire to his throat. George miraculously managed
to escape the clutches of him and get out of
his taxi, but rather sadly, the perpetrator managed to actually
physically strangle at the side of the road with his hands.
So it's a case in Aberdeen that's very well known
because of the extreme violence shown during it, because of

(05:22):
the mysterious act of somebody. Well, first of all the
brutal act of somebody carrying that out, but also what
makes it really mysterious is the fact that a cheesewire
was using it, the fact that wire was used. It's
obviously a very very strange weapon. Why would somebody be
carrying a cheesewire on them? And to this day, unfortunately

(05:43):
the case remains unsolved at the time, there was several
leads the police explore which might come on to There's
been several developments over the years also, but to this day,
as we stand right now, the case is unsolved.

Speaker 1 (05:56):
It is sadly so. Ryan. On your podcast Who is
the Cheese Killer? You spoke to Alex, George's nephew and
his wife Robina. How was it speaking to them and
why did you decide to do the podcast? Were you
aware of the case as you're from Aberdeen and just
wanted to get involved.

Speaker 2 (06:11):
Yeah, I knew of the case, but the only thing
I knew of the case was tax driver nineteen eighties
murdered choose ware. That's all I could have told you
about the case. My actual daytime job in ninety five
job is producing radio commercials. Alex and Rubina and Mackay,
the nephew of George and his wife. They actually carried
out a radio campaign on our local radio station, Original

(06:34):
one of six in Aberdeen, and that's how I met
them because I actually produced a commercial. And I've produced
radio commercials for hundreds hundreds of different businesses from carpet
shops to auto dealers, but this was the first time
that anybody ever commissioned me to record a commercial looking
for information about a killer. So I spoke to Robina
and I said to her, I mean, once once I

(06:56):
got told more information about about the case, I said
to her, have you ever thought about doing a podcast?
At that point, I'd never done a podcast before, I've
gone audio background. I'd always wanted to do a podcast,
And she and her husband Alex, George's nephew, they kind
of jumped the chance because anything they can do to
keep it front of mind the public, they will absolutely
do and they will support and they did that, and

(07:16):
I must admit at the time I kind of felt
detached from the whole thing because I didn't know George,
I didn't know the family. I didn't know that they
did it much about the case. But the more and
more I did about the case, the more that I
kind of stuff going down a rabbit hole basically of
a of a really really sad sort of and the
more I got to kind of feel that I knew
George to the point that I mean, George's family always

(07:37):
called him Dodd Dodge, was as if it was the
name that was affection known by by his friends and family.
And when I started off doing the podcast, I was
always calling him George, and slowly and I started to
call him Dog. I thought I felt connected to him,
and during the podcast it was really important because his
murder was from from over forty years ago. A lot
of people sadly that that were around the time are

(07:58):
no longer here. Obviously george wife Jesse, who has left
a widow in her late fifties, she sadly passed away.
So there was nobody really around that because really speak
to you, well, there weren't many people around that we
could still speak to. So for me, I really wanted
to give Dodd and Jesse a voice in the podcast,
so we brought on actors and actresses to kind of
play the part of these people that are important in

(08:19):
the case, to try and and give them a voice.
And really there's scenes the podcast that Nobe does a
clue what was said at the time, So some of
it is for dramatic purposes, but it's just to give
people try and drop in a bit more kind of
give Dodd and Jesse and their family a voice.

Speaker 1 (08:36):
Just humanizes them a little bit as well. When you
just add that people want that story. It connects people
a little bit.

Speaker 2 (08:42):
Yeah, absolutely, And I mean.

Speaker 1 (08:45):
You also spoke to the detective working on the case
who works on the case now, James Callender, but you
also spoke to the neighbor who was the neighbor of
Jesse and George at the time, who was just a
young lat and young boy.

Speaker 2 (08:57):
He was thirteen. It was a really sense part of
the podcast of the series because we're being and Alex
had welcomed me to do this podcast with open arms,
but when I started trying and talk to other people,
it was really really to handle that very sensitively, particularly
we came to David. David was thirteen at the time
when Dodd was murdered. He remembers it so so well.

(09:18):
He very kindly agreed to be part of the podcast
at the interview for it, and I must admit with
probably one of the most upsetting parts of the podcast
because he was thirty at the time and to him,
Dodd was like a grandfather to him, he really was.
Dodd had no children, no grandchildren of his own, so
he doated on his nephews, nieces and David and David's
sister also, so David kind of grew up with Dodd

(09:39):
as a second grandfather and Jesse's a second grandmother, so
David knew. David remembered and was able to tell me
during the podcast quite vividly about the night George was
taken away, about the police coming around to the house
and his mom had to go through and sit next
to Jesse and comfort her. That night, he remembers quite
vividly Jesse crying, screaming, that he heard her through the walls,

(10:02):
just screaming, and it was just harrowing, harrow to hear this,
But in the most horrible circumstances came one of the
most kindest acts of humanity I think I've heard in
a long time. But I remember this boy was only thirteen,
but he saw how upset, he saw how difficult Jesse found.

(10:24):
The difficult sounds. It's horrendous to say, but obviously her
whole world was just completely blown apart. Dodd her husband
was her world. And another thing too, that when Dodgs murdered,
his killer also took away his wallet. It only had
about twenty pounds in it nowadays would be worth eighty pounds,
so that was a robbery gone wrong. Don't know, but
Jesse was always concerned because the person had his wallet

(10:46):
They also had her address their personal details, so she
was always concerned that the person might come back for her. Irrational, yes,
but somebody going through that, I can completely understand why
that would have played in her mind. David to go back, David.
David saw how upset and how just absolutely devastated she was,
but also how scared she was. So David then then

(11:07):
volunteered to go and live with her. So each night
he would do his homework, got his mates, we go
around to her house at like ten o'clock at night,
basically climb with the back vents. She'd have his a
couple of teen biscuits ready for him. He sit there,
chat for a bit, then go to bed. And he
did that for two and a half years. None of
us mates had a clue, really, none of us my
friends had a clue. Yet he didn't do this to

(11:29):
be the big matter, look what I'm doing. He did
this because he was just and he still is, just
a root, just a lovely, lovely guy that puts other
people first before himself. He's there for two and a
half years until Jesse kind of got over the worst
of it. And then and then she obviously felt more
comfortable to be alone the more time past amazing. It is. Yeah.

(11:50):
The thing about it was is that David didn't tell
me this. I didn't draw a lot of them out
of him. And the story of of what I'm dodged.
I mean, there's there's there's all sorts of different tangents
that people can go to the podcast, but there's all
sorts of theories. There's all sorts of curveballs and different
variants of the case that are really really interesting. But
at the end of the day, the podcast is there

(12:12):
to try and to try and get people to come forward.
And somebody out there must know something. I called one
of the episodes, somebody out there must know something because
from speaking to James Calendar, the previous detective, the person
that found DoD that night as he was lying in
the side of the pavement, everybody says said the same thing.
Somebody out there must know.

Speaker 1 (12:33):
Something or have an inkling at least.

Speaker 2 (12:35):
Yeah. Yeah, because at the time it was nineteen eighty three,
it happened somebody. You would think we'd notice if their
partner or their dad or their brother came home was
outsorts was agitated with upset. So there probably is someboday
out there. I mean it might be the fact that
the fact might be the actual killer has passed away.

(12:57):
And during the podcast, I said to Rubina and Alex,
how would you feel if that happened, And they said
that they would prefer the person to be alive because
they would really appreciate some answers, but even just to
know who the person was, to try and figure out
from that where they grew up, what sort of life
they have. Was this the one off for the family.
There are just so many unanswered questions.

Speaker 1 (13:19):
That's the worst of it all, isn't it just the wh.

Speaker 2 (13:22):
Yeah, there's lots of theories. Was it a robbery gone wrong?
Was it somebody suffering from PTSD? Did they have an
army background? Were they reenacting out a scene from a
film or some sort of grotesque fantasy. Who knows? And
unless we find out who that person is, it's a

(13:42):
question that that very well might remain unanswered.

Speaker 1 (13:47):
So now we've heard from Ryan, the host of who
is the Cheeseware a Killer Podcast and have refreshed our
memories about George Murdock's murder. Now let's hear from George's
nephew Alec and his wife Robina, who have been the
driving for behind bringing more awareness to the murder of
fifty eight year old George Murdoch and the family members
who have gone through and continue to go through, having

(14:09):
their hopes raised each time there is a new development
in the case. Who just want to see George's murderer
brought to justice. We'll get to the huge developments that
have been in the case later, but first let me
introduce you to Alec and Robina Mackay. We'll hear their
story and their memories of George as well as here
how they began a campaign back in twenty fifteen to

(14:31):
get justice for George and Jesse and just what that
involved in the steps George's family had to take in
order to start this campaign after George had been murdered
almost thirty two years prior, and find out what it's
been like for them over the years to continue to
build awareness of George's case in the hopes that someone
will hold the key piece of information.

Speaker 4 (14:54):
My name's Salec Mackay. I'm the nephew of George Murdock,
who we call out side of the family call him Dodd,
and my aunt Jesse and uncle Dodd lived all over
Aberdeen but probably in my formative years from up when
I was about ten until I left the suburb of
Aberdeen called Mastrik. They lived there also, and we were

(15:16):
probably about no more than about three hundred meters away
from them. We saw an awful lot of them, and
I think that's one of the reasons why that we've
taken up the mantle, if you like. I loved them both,
and why we're really doing what we're doing.

Speaker 3 (15:32):
Yeah, I'm Rubina, Alex's wife, and I first met Jesse
and Dodd Alec and I hadn't long met each other,
and he says, oh, we've come to my house, you know,
meet my parents this particular night. So I went up.
This would have been in seventy six, I think in
nineteen seventy six. So I went up, and when I
went in, I didn't know Jesse and Dodd were going
to be there, but apparently that they were waiting until

(15:55):
I got there, just to kind of see me, saying hello,
check me over, I suppose you could say, looking at fart.
I always remember this. I walked into the living room
and they were standing in front of the fire, and
they both had this lovely, kind smile on their faces.
And the kind of people. You know, I don't take
to people easily or quickly, I hasten to add, but

(16:16):
I did with them. You know. They just had this
kind of just a really really kind aura about them.
So that was my first introduction to Jesse and Dodd,
and the more I got to know them, and I
didn't know DoD quite as well, but certainly Jesse, and
of course after sadly Dodd was killed, Jesse kept in
touch with us very much when we went Overseas used
to fool my mom. So I knew Jesse a lot better,

(16:37):
but I only really knew Dog for about seven years.
That's about all I really knew them for. But I
felt like I known him all my life, kind of thing.
I don't know if I ever told Alec this, but
two weeks after Dodd died in my head, but we
both did a really really high sense a strong sense
of justice, and I thought this would be solved quickly.
I mean, that's always your hope, and of course it wasn't, sadly,

(16:59):
not through any fault of the police. It was just
a very it is a very difficult murder to solve
this one because it's just between two people who didn't
know each other. So a few weeks afterwards, I thought,
if this is never solved, we have to do something.
I didn't know what then, but I knew we would
definitely do something. And as I say, it didn't realize
it would take so long. But of course we then

(17:19):
moved overseas a wee well after that with Alex, work
came back, so we just started and we started as
in but twenty fourteen, twenty fifteen, almost immediately after we
came back here to the northeast. So that's that's where
we're at.

Speaker 1 (17:31):
So when you came back from overseas, and obviously it's
still unsolved, what did you do? What did you feel
that you had to do something? Didn't you? So what
was the next steps for you?

Speaker 3 (17:42):
So we came back. Initially we stayed in the Lincolnshire.
We had two dogs and we just wanted we were
both tansers, always lived in a city, but at that
point in our lives or this point and having the
two dogs, we wanted maybe build the freedom country, you know,
life for them, just give them some more room to
room about. So we stayed in Lincolnshire for a few years.

(18:03):
So we didn't immediately come back to our hometown of Aberdeen,
stayed in Lincolnshire for a couple of years, and then,
sadly between the two of us, I guess, getting on
in years, we had an awful lot of bereavements in
both sides of our family. I think that particular year
in tent that was twenty thirteen was about seven. So
we decided, you know what, I think it's about time
we were heading back home, which was always the plan.

(18:25):
So we returned here to where we're living now, which
is just outside of Aberdeen. We returned back here in
twenty fourteen and we were doing an awful lot of
work to the house. But I had started to think
about this already, you know, but how are we going
to you know, what are we're going to do? How
we're going to start things with godd and in twenty
fifteen I believe it was twenty fifteen, certainly late twenty fourteen.

(18:47):
I contacted the papers, contact the local paper, explained what
I wanted to ask about. They put me through to
one of their senior reporters. So I explained roughly, you
know where we wanted to pick this up, you know,
with the murder whatever, And I said to him, you know,
we'll even pay you, and he laughed and he says, oh,
I don't need to be paid, and he says no, no,
he says, listen. He said it would be my pleasure

(19:09):
to help you with this. He says, but all I
would ask is that you don't speak with any other
reporters or papers for now. And I says, no, no, that's
absolutely fine. So this guy Edar, that was a guy.
He was so helpful. I can't even begin to explain.
He offered to conver to the house, which he did,
and we went through everything. He actually remembered the murder
because he was kidding, and he wouldn't have been our

(19:30):
quite as old as us, but he was certainly old
enough to remember that the murder to had taken place.
So he says, listen, I'll try and keep this going
in the papers for about a week now. That's pretty
much unheerded with a murder, you know, it's in the paper,
maybe a couple of days whatever, and it's out again,
particularly an unsolved and a cool piece. He did, indeed
keep it going for it for a week. We were
beginning to get quite encouraging reports, you know, from various

(19:54):
places so after that we wanted to get an update
from the police basically and see where they were with
this or if indeed they were anywhere. So we contacted them.
They said, you know, well, yes, certainly looking appointment coming
for an update.

Speaker 4 (20:09):
We had a meeting with him in twenty fifteen. That
was thirty two years after Dodd's murder, and it was
Robin and I and my brother Robert, who's sadly no
longer with us, but anyway, we had a meeting with
them and we left that meeting and we were totally
totally disappointed with that because it was a cold case

(20:30):
and we just felt that at that time the officer
that was in charge of cold cases, and I used
the word in charge loosely, it wasn't really being looked at.
It was just a cold case and it was just
like it wasn't a priority in any way, shape or form.
So we did. We left there. We weren't feeling great.

(20:51):
Now has it happened, just at that time and it
was just a godsend to us. Police Scotland were reorganizing
and they were moving the cold cases back into their
major Investigations team and the person that was going to
lead that up was gently called Gary Winter and from

(21:12):
the moment that we met Gary until he retired just
over over a year ago something like that. But he
was off the case about two three years ago. But
he retired about a year ago. It just started to
accelerate quite quickly. Now when I say that, this whole
case and anybody it's involved in a cold case, nothing

(21:32):
moves fast. It's glacial, and it's just how it is.
So your expectations have got to be tempered when you're
doing something like this. And I would say to anybody
out there, you're just not going to get anything done
done quickly.

Speaker 3 (21:45):
Now.

Speaker 4 (21:45):
If you're like Rabina, I think you're looking for fast results.
We had to really change our mindset in terms of
what we were doing so at that time. And I'll
let Rabina now come on, because part of the reason
that when we went to the place was there were
a couple of other cold cases in Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire at
the time that were being actively pursued.

Speaker 3 (22:08):
One was you may have heard of this, it was
quite a big thing, Brenda Page, doctor Brenda Paige. And
the other was well Brenda Page's murder. Sadly will also
took place in Aberdeen, but it was at least oh
I forget exactly, it was at least maybe five six
years before Dodds, so that was even earlier than Dodds one.
And the other one which was round about the same

(22:30):
time as Brenda Pages, so again before Dodd's murder was
Renie mccrane and the Inverness murder where Renie McCree and
her son had been killed and their bodies had never
been found. Now I can't quite remember at this point
which one it was. I think it was a brand
of Page one, but I was reading the paper and
actually I heard it in the radio, i believe, one day,
and it says the Brenda Page murder case is being

(22:53):
reopened or looked at again. Forget they always say they're
never closed, and so it maybe didn't say reopened, but
it was being looked at again. Well, I'm ashamed to
say my initial instincts were kind of of anger, and
I'm thinking, so what about Dods. You know, he's just
going to be left by the wayside basically, So of course,
me being me, I immediately called police and then get through

(23:15):
to the reception, which which wasn't really much much help.
In fairness, these people are. They're just there, you know,
to kind of handle the calls. So I said to
the lad explained, and I says, you know who I
was and whatever. And I says, can you tell me quite?
Was it the Brenda Page murder which was chosen to
be reviewed again and not George Murdix. And she says, well,

(23:37):
there must be new information. And I says, well, I
didn't say that on the on the radio. I says,
hear me, Well, be right, maybe there is new information.
So I'm now in my high horse, which isn't a
bad thing because it makes me get things done. So
I made further inquiries from the police and such like,
and pretty much that sort of spurred our, well Alex

(23:57):
introduction into things, because then he was suddenly going to
be taken seriously. When when they realized that, well, there's
there's somebody, some members of family up there who are
wanting to get things moving again. And I suspect that
may have been one of the reasons why they thought
they suddenly they couldn't Dodd's case couldn't be ignored because
we had raised this issue on these questions and they

(24:18):
had to be answered, and if they weren't answered, we
weren't letting it go. It just happened to be the case.
And it was to our measurement that the previous DII
we had spoken with he was either retiring or he
was being moved I forget which. Nice enough guy, but
unfortunately just wasn't really that much interested in Dodd's case.
So he was then replaced with alex as di I

(24:40):
Gary Winter, who was and has been phenomenal in furthering
this case, just as the current is James Calendar. But
Gary really was instrumental in them and things picking up here.
So we knew we had somebody in charge who was
going to help, not just was going to who really
wanted to help, you be really cared of, but not
just Dodd's case, but all murder cases. He just got it.

(25:04):
That's how much it meant to families. So Alec was
probably still is a little bit on the shy side. Really. Yeah,
you hard to believe it, would, you know, all the
look gives me. But anyway, but as a family, his
his entire family. They are quite a private family, and
it's not the kind of thing when a murder has

(25:24):
happened and some particularly somebody close to you that you'd
really want to shut from the rooftops anyway. So neither
Alec nor his brother, and neither nor did I. Nobody
ever really told anyone out with the family about this.
I mean very few people in my work. You maybe
a couple of my really close friends, and the same
with Alec. And that was it. Nobody else knew Alex's
relationship to to Dodd or to the murder victim. And

(25:47):
that's how we wanted it to stay. But as I saven,
Gary took over with our long discussions with him Alec
and I and he said, I always remember, he said
to me once I'd phoned him a but you know,
so where do we go from here? And he said
on the he says, would all be prepared to, you know,
to come forward and speak out? And I says, no,
absolutely not. I says, this has been kept close to

(26:08):
his heart or the family for well, forget how many years.
And that was about thirty something, he said, And I
said no, I said, I don't think he'd really feel comfortable. However, Gary,
in a nice way, he pressed and he says, well,
let me tell you this. He says, we can do
this two ways. You can do this with us with
the police, he says, which would be the very best
way to go. Or you can certainly just do your
own thing, he says, But I will say this, it

(26:30):
always works far far better and it's far more successful
if a member of the family comes forward. It's just
how it is, he says, and people like to hear
from that person, he or she, And he says, it
also makes my case so much more easy, he says.
If he really doesn't want to do it, and refuses,
then he says, I'll just read the stuff out, you know,
if he tells me what to sale, read it out

(26:50):
for him. He said, it's not as good, but I'm
happy to do it if that's what he wants. So
I says, well, I don't know, and then he says,
I'm sure you could persuade him, and I says, I
don't think so so anyway, But to my surprise and
pleasant surprise, as soon as I just mentioned that to
him and he says, yes, I'll do it, that you

(27:11):
could have knock been over it, and I thought he
must be drunk, and I will we say the same
thing tomorrow. Apart he says, I'll do it now. I said,
what about Robert, and I know Robert wouldn't want to
do it, and he was right, he didn't want to
do it. He spoke with him, so he says, I'll
do it. So that's how it started. That's how all
I got involved with. It passed forward a few years

(27:31):
to twenty eighteen, and that was when Gary decided that
he would hold a huge media a huge media day platform,
a media platform to which he or his you know,
the lastie who organizes this. She invited all the papers UK, ye,
all the papers, all the media. They held it. It. It

(27:52):
was right next door to this, this particular hotel, and
funnily enough, it was directly across the road from where
poor DoD Netta's death.

Speaker 1 (28:01):
And was that was that deliberate? Do you think do
you think there were conscious of that or do you
think it just yes, yes.

Speaker 4 (28:05):
No, it was delivered. It was deliberate in case they
wanted to do any interviews actually at station road.

Speaker 3 (28:12):
Okay, yes, I never even I didn't realize, but anyway,
so it was, it was, so it was it was.
I mean I wasn't there, but obviously Alec was there.
It looked like it was a huge crowd. So anyway,
from that particular day, things just oh, they took off
in a way we would never we had never expected.
Gary told us that they had received either the day

(28:33):
after or very quickly within a few days, over two
hundred responses through email, phone calls, whatever else, whatever communications
there are. He was blown away. And that's after like
it was about thirty five years, then thirty five years.
Then it was just amazing and really down from that point,
this case has has grown. It's far from just dwindling

(28:57):
and kind of you know, disappearing. It has grown in
ways we could never have imagined. Gary went on to
get it onto Crime Watch, which amazed me that that
had never been done before. And since then it's been
on like about three or four times on Crime They
have been phenomenal also because they've contacted the now current
di I, James Calendar, also a great guy who's really

(29:18):
done so much for the case. He's very like Gary
in a lot of ways. So he's you know, he's
flown back and forth, you know, he's appeared in Crime Watch.
That's really been to help.

Speaker 1 (29:29):
Okay, So we found out how Alec and Robina fought
to bring more awareness to George's case and Finally, there
are detectives working on George's case who really care and
want to solve the case and get justice for George.
And we will hear later just how much attention Georgie's
case is saves through Alec and Robina and Di James
Calendar's tenacity and hard work. But first let's hear about

(29:51):
some of the major developments that have happened in this case,
starting with an appeal that was made on the twenty
ninth of September twenty twenty two, the thirty ninth and
aversary of George's murder, asking for anyone to come forward
who knew a male, likely now in his sixties or seventies,
of small and stocky build with a local accent, who

(30:12):
frequented Wilson's Sports Bar on Market Street in Aberdeen in
twenty fifteen and perhaps still does, and he's known to
wear or has worn, a specific Iron Maiden T shirt,
a picture of which you'll find a link to on
our website, Scottish Murders dot com. Here's how that new
information came to light.

Speaker 2 (30:31):
That was probably one of the most one of the
first recent developments of the case. So it goes back
to twenty fifteen, So bear in mind this is thirty
two years after the murder of George. But a man
wearing an Iron Maiden T shirt was sitting in a
city center bar in Aberdeen and discussed the case with
somebody else and nobody apart from the police, know what

(30:53):
was said in that conversation. But basically there were things
in that conversation that was said from the guy wearing
the Ironing T shirt that wasn't in the public domain.
So I think the guy wearing the Iron Maen T
shirt had had a few drinks he let things slip.
But something inside the person who was receiving who was
talking to him, thought this is a bit strange. She's

(31:13):
saying things here that he shouldn't know. He sounds like
he knows a bit too much about it. And he
went to the police with this information he or she,
I don't know. I don't think we actually know who
actually give this information to Police Scotland. But they went
to the police and said and give the information, and
from what they told the police, the police deemed the
information as important enough to launch a campaign to try

(31:34):
and find this person. So that person absolutely knows something
about the murder. That the general public didn't or the
general public don't know about it enough to make that
person of interest to the police. So they lost a
campaign to try and find this person. And they haven't unfortunately.
I think they think the CCTV within the bar wasn't

(31:55):
there was some sort of poster or pillar. They couldn't
see the person fully, So they've ever really got a
clear enough picture. And I dad say of this person.
But this is going back. So that's that's that's nine
years ago now, and that's that person's never been found again.
The more people that hear the story, will will somebody think, Okay,
did did so and so have so and so she
had an iron made a T shirt. He has to

(32:15):
drink at the bar. He was around in irbody in
ninety eighty three. It's not beyond the possibility that that
somebody will come forward and somebody will identify this person.
And obviously this person not it's probably not even the murderer,
but he knows somebody that that knows something potentially, Yeah, just.

Speaker 1 (32:31):
To give the name, because you just never know. Yeah,
that's the thing, And that's the crux of it, isn't it.
You just if you know anything are you suspicious of
it and just just come forward anonymously or through the
Facebook page. Yeah, just say it, get shoulders and that
you've done your bite, you know, and what will be
will be.

Speaker 2 (32:50):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (32:50):
And then there was it, And then there was the picture,
wasn't there? There was the picture that came out as well.
I thought that was a really big one. Was when
I saw that, I was like, oh wow, this is massive.

Speaker 2 (33:01):
It was huge. It was a huge development the case.

Speaker 1 (33:03):
Absolutely, And we'll get to that huge development in the case.
But first, Alec and Robina continue to work hard to
keep George's case in the public eye, and so Alec
is so pleased when he is given the opportunity to
appear on David Wilson's crime files. But it would be
what David Wilson disclosed to Alec afterwards that would give
both Alec and Robina a very different perspective into the

(33:26):
case and of George's murderer.

Speaker 4 (33:29):
He said, and you're got knocked me over with a feather,
And I'll tell you why, he said, I think this
individual would have stayed around about the crime scene whilst
all the stuff was going on, you know, the place
and all that. Now that night. One of the first
person on the scene was Alan Henry Constant PC Alan Henry.

(33:51):
He was close by with his dog doing some training,
so they went right there at the time, and Alan
wanted to do some more really looking around the area,
but he was directed to go west of Aberdeen to
Peter Cooter or Cooters they would be known as locally,

(34:11):
and come back and this was very close to an
old railway track and walked the way back into where
the murder was committed. But Alan really wanted to look around,
but he wasn't allowed to. And that's okay, that happens.
I mean, people have to make decisions as where they go.
But the next morning he got up about it was
because of September. I think it must have still been

(34:31):
light about five five thirty he got up and he
went back down there with his dog and I was
a field close by and Alan said to us at
the time, he said, well, not at the time, he
told us once we made contact, when we were starting
to look at this uncle's case was that he said,
the dog went right over to this part of the

(34:52):
field and it looked very much like I was an
imprint of a body as so someone had been lying there.
And so when David Wilson told that, I said, well,
David told him about Alan Store. I says, I thought
Holland Apaldi, because I always thought that was too absurd
for words. I thought there would be no way, because
this is the trouble. Sometimes, Dawn, you put your yourself

(35:15):
in the mind of the killer, and we can't, none
of us can, because we're not that type of people.
But seemingly this is not uncommon for somebody have done
something like that, and I thought, and I did speak
to Adan, I said, I was so sorry. I says,
I never said yes, but I just didn't believe that
that could be the case. Now it may still not

(35:35):
have been, but it was interested in coming from David Wilson.

Speaker 1 (35:38):
Following David Wilson researching this case and visiting the crime scene,
he mentioned Alec that, in his opinion, there were many
traits with George Murddrug's murder that led David question if
perhaps he was looking at a disorganized crime and defender.
But what exactly did this mean.

Speaker 3 (35:56):
When I first looked this up. A disorganized crime and
this applies to the fender too. It's somebody who shows
a lack of restraint on the victim. And also he
leaves behind physical evidence. Now, obviously the physical evidence in
Dodd's murder was the cheese wire that in fact, as
far as I'm aware, it was the only thing that
was left behind, which he didn't realize at the time. Also,

(36:19):
the body's left in situ and there's no attempt made
to conceal it. So, you know, like I guess, as
Alec mentioned this field close by. It's a quiet road,
there's not that many houses, there's plots, there's you know,
garden plots. So if he wished to, he could have.
I mean, he hung around there for so long, killing
poor daughter, almost killing and he died fairly soon afterwards.
He could have dragged Dodd's body along to this field.

(36:42):
He could have concealed it a little bit. I mean, yes,
it was going to be found fairly easily. But he didn't.
He just left and left him lying in the pavement.
So when I read this, because I know what disorganized,
I know what the word means, but I'd never heard
of a disorganized crime or a disorganized defender. So that's
why I googled it, and it seemed to me and
it doesn't mean to say, this is how it was

(37:03):
that this guy who did this fitted practically every single
aspect of what a disorganized offender was. It also went
on to say, and I don't really know so much
about this, as it could be somebody who somebody who
maybe wasn't very intelligent below IQ whatever. I don't know
selected about that. And it also said often this kind

(37:23):
of person will commit a murder close to her home.
And we had always thought this for a number of years.
I don't know if really still feel the same, but
that area where this happened, this road was situated between
Cults and Garth d and we wondered, you know, was
this an area that the guy either knew well, maybe

(37:44):
he lived, but if he didn't live there, maybe he
had family who live in there, so he knew after this,
maybe you know, he thought, I need to get away quickly.
Now why he didn't move quicker before, I don't know,
but he would know a house he could have run to,
you know, and then he would have been inside, so
there was no evidence they'd ever been there. So yeah,
I found that very very interesting. But David Wilson told

(38:05):
Alec and also as he said about that where the
grass it looked like it had been flattened, and to
this day, Alan Henry firmly believes had he been able
to I mean, he had the dog there, and he was
with this partner who also had a dog, who would
have taken what minutes if that, to let the dog
loose see if the dog picks anything up. So Alan
understandably and I would have been the same. I know

(38:26):
what Alex said, these things happen, I would have been
pretty bitter about that. You know, he was gonna be
maybe within the thirty seconds de minute of catching the guy.
Maybe not, but he never had that chance to find out.
So maybe an opportunity was missed. Maybe it wasn't, but
it did seem to all fit in at the time
with what David Wilson said.

Speaker 1 (38:43):
I suppose, but they were thinking like what we were thinking.
I mean same with myself. I was thinking, you know,
you'd want to just get away, you wouldn't be hanging
about in the area. So maybe that was just what
the police were thinking too.

Speaker 3 (38:54):
Yeah. Absolutely, But that's why when this gentleman, the guy
had out of time in prison looking forward, what he
said his theory and that's all it was, and he
just wanted to offer this theory because he said, to him,
it never seemed like a robbery gone wrong. And quite frankly,
certainly for me, it never seemed like a robbery gone wrong.

(39:15):
And I think you're you're now the same as well.
It could be, but it didn't have the hallmarks I
mean to me, and robbery gone wrong in that scenario
would have been the guy perhaps getting in beside George,
you know, in the front seat, which was very common
back then with single guys, Alec did. I mean most
guys you would get in beside the driver because you
could speak to him. I mean, it's a bit strange
getting in behind the driver. But anyway, irrespective, so if

(39:36):
the guy did a knife, say for example, and held
it to Dodd's neck or body, either behind him or
beside him, and said you like, give us your money whatever,
that yes, that's a robbery. And if that there might
have been a little bit of a frack off whatever
either he would have been able to I don't know,
maybe just knock Dodd's senseless, not kill him, but knock
him senseless or incapacitate him, grab the money and run.

(39:59):
That's maybe robbery gun draw or if he maybe cut
him slightly. Yes, that's it. To put this cheese wire,
which is which is a deadly weapon. I mean, if
DoD hadn't, for some reason managed to struggle enough to
get it over his head, he would have, without doubt,
he would have been decapitated. Because that's so, it's this
is what soldiers used to use way back, you know,

(40:20):
and they did, you know, especially the special forces, And
this is why they used the a cheese war because
it was known as as this the silent deathly weapon.
Nobody could make a sound because it was over no time.
So thankfully DoD was able to get it over his head.
But by that time, the shock and he would have
obviously been bleeding a bit. The man would have been
in shock. So the guy would have had easy pickings.

(40:41):
He could have left it at that, taken the money,
taking his wallet, whatever, and been off. That would have
been a robbery, gun drop. Why didn't he so then
dog get out of the tax how We don't know
how that happened. I can't imagine God would have got
out of the taxi to run away, because the guy
had already get out of the taxi. So we can
only assume he'd be a pull dot out of the taxi.
They both ended up on the pavement beside the cab.

(41:03):
There's quite high walls there all the way down bordering
the houses and they're stone their granite walls and banal.
And Henry the PC, the dog Handrew who referred to
when he arrived first in the scene, he said, there
was so much blood in the walls. He said, I
thought it was blunt force trauma that they had been involved.
That must have been a lot of blood. So that
could only have been accounted for by the guy maybe

(41:24):
banging or bushing God's head against the wall. And he
then proceeds to strangle them with his own hands. So
that to me, isn't the robbery gone wrong? I mean,
the guy was lucky. We were unlucky. He was lucky
that somebody hadn't wasn't other than the two boys, you know,
the two fifteen year old boys, the cyclists who came
up the road. And apparently we only knew this recent well,
we only knew this well, I only knew this after

(41:46):
the first crime Watch reconstruction had been done. When so
when the kids passed came up the road on their bikes,
they said they'd heard Dodd shouting help, like in a
fairly faint voice, which which is it is so sad,
but because they were terrified. You know, I don't blame them.
They're only fifteen. Fifteen year olds back then weren't quite

(42:08):
the same as a lot of fifteen year olds now,
and some fifteen year olds now might have intervened the
might have even overpowered the guy. But seriously, no blame
or whatever to the two kids. Good for them. They
then cycled at approximately about a mile because of course
there was no mobile phones and no CCTV back then,
so they cycled about a mile to the nearest hotel,

(42:29):
which I think was a cult's hotel, and they phoned
the police from there. So even though Alan Henry was
fairly close by, he would have only been maybe like
about one or two miles away. It's so strange. By
the time the kids had got to the hotel, phoned
the police, and then the police had radio and through
to Alan, the guy would have well, if he was
lying around, he would have still been there. But if
he had run away somewhere, he would have been well

(42:51):
gone by that time. But this is why I firmly
believe we could be wrong it's nobody's right or wrong here,
because we don't know why he did that. You know
why he just didn't depart the scene very quickly. But
everybody was a theory on this. So the guy who
contacted us and who'd serve a few well some years
behind bars and an individually, I think we also had

(43:14):
different theories at that time. We firmly now at the
time believe that that this guy was right. That sounds
to us far more likely than a robbery gone wrong.

Speaker 1 (43:25):
Now.

Speaker 3 (43:25):
I don't know if the police, this is my own opinion,
I was thinking about this, if they didn't maybe update this,
or if they just said that maybe so as not
to cause panic in the city at the time. I mean,
something like this has never happened in Aberdeen. And if
you say, you know, like somebody who's going under the
cheese worn and he killed this taxi driver, are you
going to panic other drivers? I mean, I'm sure they

(43:45):
were panicked enough anyway. I mean, they're so vulnerable, they're
in such a vulnerable position. But so robbery gone wrong
does make it seem like it's more a specific, a
one off kind of thing. I don't know. And you
know what if the guy's got which I hope he will,
hope he will be maybe it will have just turned
out to be robery gone wrong. I didn't think it
came across as that it was just so violent. He

(44:05):
didn't have to kill him once he had this fight
with him or forever outside as as a dog would
have been probably even just barely semi conscious at the time.
That's why I was so surprised to hear the kids
say that they tell them shout help, But yeah, I mean,
did he have to strangle him? And then that's a
particularly quick process. It's sort of like thirty seconds or
something like that.

Speaker 1 (44:25):
We've heard Rabina and Alec mention about a former prisoner
who contacted them, and we'll hear about that later and
the theory he put forward and just what it meant
to Alec and Rabina that he did come forward. But first,
there was another huge development in the case when in
July twenty twenty three, it was announced that a photo
of a man wearing an Iron Maiden T shirt seen

(44:46):
in the Wilson Sports Bar might just be able to
help place it with their inquiries. Sadly, this photo, which
you can find a link to in the show notes
only caught a partial shot of this man as he
was not the intended sub, showing part of his torso,
with him wearing the Iron Maiden T shirt up to
and including his chin and lip. He possibly may also

(45:08):
be sporting to choose on his right arm, but this
could just be a reflection. It is thought this man
was in his sixties possibly seventies, may or may not
be wearing glasses, and there's a likelihood that he lives
in the Aberdeen area. To this day, this man has
not been identified, so have a look at the photo
and see if you recognize this man. Rabina posted this

(45:29):
update on the George Murdoch Appeel Facebook page. Again you'll
find a link to this page in the show notes.
And here's what Alex's reaction to this photo was and
is the.

Speaker 4 (45:39):
Reaction on the Facebook page because people were now trying
to look at this and say, God, do I recognize
this go out because of the photo was only of
the chin down to his torso, and so that kept
it alive a little bit. But I think the police
are still actively trying to determine who the photograph was.
So it's been a number of years and so over

(46:00):
time you can get a little less enthusiastic about that.

Speaker 1 (46:05):
Do you know who this man in the photo wearing
the Ironmaiden T shirt seen in Wilson's sports Bar back
in twenty fifteen is? He may be a regular customer,
might visit the sports bar now and again, or this
could just have been a one off visit. But do
you recognize this man or the Iron Maiden T shirt?
Who may be any sixties or early seventies, be of

(46:26):
a small and stocky build and have a local accent.
The police believe this man could help them with their inquiries.
If you have any information at all, you can visit
the Facebook page by typing George murdoc Appeal and either
private message Rubina or email J D Halfield at mail
dot co dot uk, or by contacting Police Scotland. Please

(46:49):
be assured that if you contact Rubina, either by private
message or via email, if you should so wish for
an amenity, your details will not be passed on to
Police Scotland. All of these details and links will be
in the show notes or on our website Scottish Murders
dot com. The description that was released back in nineteen
eighty three of George's potential murderer was of a male

(47:12):
edge between twenty and thirty years old, of slim build,
approximately five foot seven inches or one point seven meters
in height, to have had short, dark hair worn over
his ears, to be clean shaven, and to have possibly
been wearing a dark jumper and dark trousers. Cast your
mind back to the twenty ninth of September nineteen eighty three.

(47:33):
Were you living in Aberdeen at this time? Does this
description bear any resemblance to someone you knew back then?
A relative, a friend, a work colleague, drinking buddy and
next door neighbor. Did you perhaps hear rumors at the
time of whom may have potentially been George's murderer? If so,
please don't assume that someone else will have come forward

(47:53):
with that information. Please believe that any and all information,
however small, is so very much appreciated by Alec and Rubina,
even if it leads nowhere, they will forever be grateful
to you for coming forward, anonymously or otherwise. On the
twenty ninth of September this year twenty twenty five, it
will be forty two years since George Murdoch was so

(48:16):
brutally murdered and his wife, Jesse's world came crashing down,
her life never to be the same again. Alec and
Robina and George and Jesse have waited long enough for answers.
Let twenty and twenty five be the year they finally
received justice. Now there's so much more still to tell you,
including Alec and Rubina debunking a long held belief around

(48:39):
the case, just how a former prisoner contacting Rubina and
Alec and giving his perspective and thoughts on the case
has helped not only give a better understanding of who
may have murdered George, but has also opened up the
lines of communication into your community Rubina and Alec might
not otherwise have had access to. And we will tell
you about two further huge developments in the case that

(49:02):
we're announced to hear. All that and so much more.
Tune in to Part two next week. Here's a snake
peek for now.

Speaker 4 (49:11):
I was one hundred percent convinced that we had we
had the murderer.

Speaker 3 (49:16):
He came forward despite the chances he was taking.

Speaker 4 (49:19):
Every tip that we've had in not one person has
asked about the reward.

Speaker 3 (49:25):
The other few people who did after that, they were
also also had served time in prison, all running with
the same era, which was good because in the nineteen
eighties that's the people we want. They're the people who
might have heard something.

Speaker 4 (49:36):
It's been a bit of a surprise, I think to
both of us, how many people have said they've killed
my uncle.

Speaker 3 (49:43):
You'd thought about this for a couple of years coming forward,
and I believe I think he said that his wife
sort of persuaded and look, well, why don't you just
try it? You know, you never know who it might lead.

Speaker 4 (49:52):
Nobody came forward until about six weeks after the murder
that someone in Mister Chips, which was about so maybe
about two three miles away from where the murder occurred.
Someone had gone in there that night after the murder
and had cuts on his hand, faced blood, but it
wasn't reported for six weeks.

Speaker 3 (50:09):
Either that same night or the day after, two guys
came forward, two ex prisoners, and then the next day
another guy came forward. Now I was so excited by this.
I mean, they all had their own name, they knew
each other, they all had their own names of who
they thought, and they didn't just thought they were one
hundred and ten percent convinced these people had killed Dodd.

Speaker 4 (50:31):
I never attached any significance to that story quite but
this is again on me putting myself in the murder.
I said, well, who would go in for a supper,
But we're not the murderer, And seemingly they're so detached
and it is possible they could do that. But in
this case it was very interesting because there was a
bit of a who done it.

Speaker 2 (50:50):
In twenty twenty three, on the anniversary of the murder,
they made publicly have DNA.

Speaker 1 (51:02):
Scottish murders is a production of chlorine tone

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The Unsolved Murder of George Murdoch Revisited: A Family's Quest for Justice - Part1

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