Forgotten film footage led police to corpse

A LUCKY break in a police investigation led to the discovery by specially-trained dogs of a woman's body in a wheelie bin in a back garden, a court has heard.

Officers searching for Samantha Wright, 24, after her family reported her missing, had hoped closed circuit television footage from Edinburgh city centre might provide some clues.

However, they were told the film had been destroyed because it was only kept a few weeks, and it was months since Ms Wright had last been seen.

Then, it was discovered that the footage, unexpectedly, had been retained, and Ms Wright was spotted walking with an older man.

He was identified as Robert Chalmers, 59, and her body was found in a search at his home.

Cadaver dogs, trained to detect the scent of decompostion, had indicated an area of shrubbery in the rear garden, Mark Heron, 46, a senior crime scene examiner, told the High Court in Edinburgh.

"I looked into the bushes and there was a wheelie bin. I opened it. The first thing I noticed was a strong smell… on further examination I saw what looked like a human hand protruding from shrubbery and leaves," added Mr Heron.

Chalmers denies murdering Ms Wright "by means unknown" on 12 or 13 June, 2008, at the house in Magdalene Drive, Duddingston, Edinburgh. He has submitted a special defence of incrimination, naming Vasile Ungureanu.

Chalmers also pleads not guilty to a charge of attempting to defeat the ends of justice by trying to dismember the body, concealing it in the house and then in a refuse bin.

Detective Constable Roderick Scott, 41, told the court that he was part of Operation Automate, the inquiry into Ms Wright's disappearance. She was reported missing in January 2009, and detectives established that 12 June, 2008, was a date of particular interest to them.

Mr Scott said Ms Wright's mobile phone had been used last on that day, and she had made her last cash withdrawal in St Andrew Square. It was decided to check CCTV footage for the area, which was covered by cameras for the city council.

"At that time, recordings were retained for 30 days and we were advised that no footage remained of the period we were interested in," Mr Scott said.

However, it turned out that city centre footage for 12 and 13 June had been seized by the police in a separate inquiry and it had been kept as a production in that case.Mr Scott said he and colleagues, working with photographs of Ms Wright provided by her family, spent 13 days viewing the footage from 19 CCTV cameras, and believed they had found images of her with a grey-bearded man at the junction of Rose Street and Hanover Street at 8:55pm on 12 June.

Ms Wright's parents confirmed it was her, and a poster showing her and the man was prepared, asking for the public's help in identifying him.

Mohammed Yamin, 46, told the court he had been an administrator at the Central Mosque in Potterrow, Edinburgh, and that he was shown the poster by police in October 2009. He recognised the man as "Rab", a handyman who had done odd jobs at the mosque some months earlier.