After Helen Kane’s body was discovered, police brought in a convicted killer for questioning.
Angus Sinclair, who grew up in the St George’s Cross area of Glasgow, was convicted of sexually assaulting and strangling his seven-year-old neighbour in 1961. Sinclair was sentenced to 10 years, though served just six.
By 1970, Sinclair was living on the nearby Hill Place, less than half a mile from where Helen’s body was discovered. He was soon quizzed by detectives over her death, but his family gave him an alibi - which was branded questionable.
Without modern DNA forensics and no eye witnesses Sinclair was eliminated from the inquiry, with nothing for police to go off. The killer was sentenced decades later for the World’s End murder - which have striking similarities to Helen Kane’s murder.
The World’s End Murders, which didn’t come to a conclusion until 2014, is the name given to the murder of two girls in 1977 - Christine Eadie and Helen Scott who were both 17 at the time, who were last seen at The World’s End pub.
Twenty years after the World’s End Murders, on August 27 2007, the trial of Angus Sinclair began at the High Court in Edinburgh. By September 10, following a submission from the defence, the judge acquitted Sinclair on the grounds that there was insufficient evidence.
In October 2014, he was retried and convicted of both murders. He died at Alloa's HMP Glenochil, aged 73, on March 11 2019.
Sinclair was also sentenced in 2001 for the murder of 17-year-old Mary Gallacher in Glasgow, and is thought to be responsible for at least four more murders.
Sign up to our Edinburgh Live nostalgia newsletters for more local history and heritage content straight to your inbox
A retired senior police officer linked to the World’s End Murders investigation, Detective Superintendent Allan Jones, said in later years that he suspected the killer may have been responsible for Mrs Kane’s murder.
Helen’s son, Michael Kane, previously told The Sun he believes Sinclair may have been behind his mothers murder. While he pleaded with the prisoner to come forward and give the Kane family the answers they needed, Sinclair died before giving any closure.
Michael said: “I don’t think Sinclair will ever admit that he killed my mum. It might be that if he was dying he would want to do the right thing and tell us one way or the other.
“I don’t know if it was him. But if he was capable of killing those two lassies then he would have been capable of killing my mum.
“I was only five years old when she was killed but it’s been a shadow over my whole life. There has never been a time when it has not been there."
Former Deputy Chief Constable of Lothian and Borders Police, Tom Wood, who was at the helm of the World’s End inquiry between 2004 and 2007, discounted any links with Mrs Kane’s murder. He brought attention to the fact that Sinclair, in all cases, had strangled his victims - whereas Mrs Kane was struck with a paving slab.
This is the second instalment in Edinburgh Live's four part Testimony series looking at the murder of Helen Kane.
The first looks into the night the night that Helen was killed, just days before her wedding anniversary.
We will also be looking into the other suspects police investigated before discussing the modern DNA testing that could solve Helen Kane's murder 52 years on.
