THE discovery of Vicky Hamilton's purse had a dramatic effect on the investigation into the schoolgirl's disappearance, a murder trial has heard.
A former senior police officer said the search for the teenager was extended as far as London after she vanished from Bathgate.
The details came as Detective Chief Inspector Keith Anderson described his part in the 16-year police investigation.
Mr Anderson – the senior investigating officer when her disappearance was looked at again in 2006 – said the search was widened to include London and Aberdeen after Vicky's purse was found in Edinburgh city centre on February 21, 1991.
Peter Tobin, 62, is on trial at the High Court in Dundee, where he denies abducting 15-year-old Vicky and drugging, indecently assaulting and murdering her.
Mr Anderson told Solicitor-General Frank Mulholland QC, prosecuting, that officers found no evidence of Vicky in London, Aberdeen or elsewhere.
The court also heard that a woman, who has since died, claimed a man named Hugh Gunn had told her he killed Vicky. The claim had been part of a 2001 police inquiry, the court heard.
Mr Anderson said she told police Mr Gunn said he and a group of White Knights Templar sacrificed Vicky. Consultant psychiatrist Dr Rosa Serrano later confirmed a Mr Gunn was detained under the Mental Health Act following an emergency referral to hospital in 2001.
The trial, before Lord Emslie, continues on Monday.
The full article contains 244 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
