Police return to scene of Dundee murder in search of killer

By FRANK URQUHART
Published on 23/01/2013 14:44

DETECTIVES investigating the murder of a grandfather, found dying in a Dundee street four months ago, today returned to the crime scene in the hope of securing a vital breakthrough in their hunt for his killer.

John McMurchie, 50, was discovered dying from a single stab wound through the heart in Fintry Terrace in the Whitfield area of the city in the early hours of 1 August last year.

Mr McMurchie, a night watchman from Errol in Perthshire, was rushed by ambulance to the city’s Ninewells Hospital where he died a short time later.

Murder squad detectives have still to establish a motive for the stabbing of the devoted Dundee United fan, a father-of-five and grandfather-of-two. But Tayside Police revealed earlier this week that a forensic search of a house in Murrayfield Gardens, where Mr McMurchie was known to have been socialising before he died, had revealed that the murder victim had been involved in a “significant physical altercation” within the property shortly before he was found dying in nearby Fintry Terrace.

And today Detective Inspector Bobby Dow, who is leading the manhunt, and a team of detectives returned to the Whitfield area in a renewed bid to break the wall of silence surrounding Mr McMurchie’s death and bring his killer to justice.

Det Insp Dow said: ‘’We know that there was an altercation in the house in Murrayfield Gardens and we know John was injured in that altercation. Someone knows who is responsible for John’s death and what went on in that house. They need to do the right thing and come forward and tell us.”

He continued: “’For the sake of John’s family, his wife, his children, his grand children, I would urge anyone in the community who has heard any information, no matter how insignificant they think it might be, to get in touch with us. Let us decide how important the information you have is.”

Crimestoppers is offering a reward of up to £5,000 to anyone providing information that leads to the arrest and conviction of any person in connection Mr McMurchie’s murder.