Community shocked to learn of new development in murder case

latest dna evidence suggests possible miscarriage of justice

By samantha chetwynd

Published:

INVERGORDON MURDER: Norman MacLeod, front, and the team during the Ian McBeath murder investigation

James Casey: jailed

Ian McBeath: victim

An Easter Ross community was stunned yesterday after hearing that a murder case has been sent back to the High Court after new DNA evidence suggests there might have been a miscarriage of justice.

James Casey, now 44, was jailed in 1991 after being found guilty at the High Court in Inverness of robbing and murdering Ian MacBeth at Invergordon.

Mr MacBeth, 37, manager of Invergordon Social and Recreational Club, was said to have been struck at least eight times on the head by a hammer during the attack, before being taken in a car to a remote wood and further beaten.

Casey, then 26, was sentenced to 20 years in prison, reduced to 11 on appeal.

Co-accused George McNairn, then 23, was cleared on the murder charge, but found guilty of robbery and sentenced to 18 months.

Now the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission has referred Casey’s case to the High Court.

Yesterday, local councillor Maxine Smith, who used to live close to where Mr MacBeth’s body was found, said: “I’m quite shocked to hear this. It must be particularly heart-wrenching for the family, but, if new evidence has turned up, then those responsible need to be punished.

“It was a cruel and sadistic crime, and whoever did it needs to be brought to justice.”

Another woman, who asked not to be named, said: “The two guys were as guilty as anything from all the evidence collected.

“They were two bad guys.” The Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission, who referred the case to the High Court, said the main evidence against Casey was forensic evidence of bloodstained clothing, including two pairs of gloves, and other items bundled together in a black bin liner bearing Casey’s fingerprints and disposed of by him following the murder.

A spokesman for the commission, which examines alleged miscarriages of justice, said: “The commission instructed DNA analysis of the two pairs of gloves found within the black bin liner.

“The DNA findings constitute fresh evidence of such significance that the verdict of the jury, reached in ignorance of its existence, may have led to a miscarriage of justice.”