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Edinburgh Live
Edinburgh Live
World
David McLean

The leafy Edinburgh street that was rocked by a double murder

It was the double murder that shocked a quiet residential street in one of the most sought after suburbs of Edinburgh.

Jilted lover Alexander Main Stirling's November 1959 killing of a war veteran father and his daughter resulted in a nationwide manhunt that would be concluded hundreds of miles away from Scotland's capital.

Stirling was a married man, but had secretly been courting 25-year-old Irene Bennett, a city typist, who looked after her invalid father James Bennett, 65, a veteran of the First World War.

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Aged 24, Stirling was a car salesman from Loanhead who was known for his love of fast cars and fiery temper.

Upon discovering Stirling's marital status, Irene had called off the tryst, but found it difficult to stop him from pestering her.

Irene and her father lived alone together at 25 Earl Haig Gardens, a peaceful and secluded street in the Trinity area of the city, which had been built in the 1920s to house injured ex-soldiers.

On the evening of November 21, 1959, however, the tranquillity of the Trinity enclave was abruptly broken as the sound of multiple gunshots rang out.

The unhinged Stirling, unable to accept the dissolution of his relationship with Irene, had gained access to the Bennetts' home and shot both daughter and father dead with a .22 rifle.

A full two days passed before a concerned neighbour peered through James Bennett's bedroom window and caught sight of his lifeless body on the bed. When police entered the property they found James had taken a single .22 rifle bullet to the head, while Irene had sustained several fatal gunshot wounds to the head and chest.

In the days before her murder, Irene had confided in a neighbour that she was worried about Stirling and what he might be capable of now that she had ended the affair.

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Police had a suspect, but Stirling was nowhere to be seen. All that was known for sure was that he had been driving a brand new red Ford Zephyr.

Incredibly, on Tuesday, November 24, police received reports that a man driving a car matching the description and registration number of that owned by Stirling had been spotted driving through Gloucester town centre.

Officers quickly scrambled and, upon tracking Stirling down, were able to make an arrest. Stirling reportedly gave himself up without a struggle, telling police: "It's alright, I know what you want me for".

Narrowly escaping the death sentence, Stirling was sentenced to life in prison. Released in 1970 after being diagnosed with oesophageal cancer, Stirling passed away at a hospice in Edinburgh at the age of 35.

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