Man convicted of killing paedophile teacher he befriended in jail

Key points

• Life for murderer of best-friend who dismembered corpse

• Victim met Mr Wilson during shared spell in prison for sex offences

• Mr Wilson tried to blame crime on former girlfriend

Key quote

"No words of mine can adequately express the public’s revulsion at your behaviour in this whole affair" - Judge Lord Dawson

Story in full A MAN was jailed for life yesterday for murdering his best friend and then dismembering the body and dumping the pieces in a back green in the Merchiston suburb of Edinburgh.

Ian Sutherland, 33, who had struck up a friendship with Alan Wilson, 51, while both were in prison serving sentences for sex offences, had denied killing his friend.

The judge, Lord Dawson, told an emotionless Sutherland: "No words of mine can bring Alan Wilson back to life. No words of mine can adequately express the public’s revulsion at your behaviour in this whole affair.

"All I can do is reflect that revulsion in passing the only severe sentence the law allows me to pass [for the crime of murder], namely life imprisonment."

Lord Dawson said Sutherland would serve at least 15 years before he became eligible for parole, and he imposed a consecutive sentence of five years for the offence of dismembering the body in an attempt to cover up his crime.

The men met in prison after Sutherland had been convicted of raping a prostitute, and Mr Wilson, a former principal history teacher at James Gillespie’s High School in the city, had been given an 18-month sentence for indecency offences against male pupils.

The High Court in Edinburgh heard that, after the two were released, Mr Wilson became infatuated with Sutherland, who rejected his attempts to build a sexual relationship.

On 1 February this year, Mr Wilson "tried once too often to come on to him" and Sutherland strangled him. He later used a saw to cut Mr Wilson’s body into five pieces, which were wrapped in bin bags and hidden among garden rubbish at the back of Sutherland’s flat in Merchiston Avenue.

Sutherland had tried to blame his former girlfriend, but a jury convicted him of Mr Wilson’s murder on a unanimous verdict.

The trial had centred on the "curious" triangle of Sutherland, Mr Wilson and Sutherland’s former girlfriend, Tracy Scott, 31.

The prosecution likened the gruesome killing to the plot of a novel by the crime writer Ian Rankin.

In May 2000, Mr Wilson, of Royal Mile Mansions, North Bridge, Edinburgh - who was the author of several books on the history of Edinburgh and a director of a company that ran guided tours of the city - was jailed for sexual offences against teenage pupils.

In August of the same year, Sutherland, a chef, was convicted of raping a prostitute in Leith and given a seven-year sentence. He was freed pending an appeal - which has never been heard - in January 2002, and moved into Mr Wilson’s flat.

Later, Sutherland met Ms Scott, a former sauna worker, and they began a relationship. Although he insisted he was "totally heterosexual", others, including Ms Scott, believed that he and Mr Wilson were involved sexually.

The court heard that Sutherland had liked having Ms Scott and Mr Wilson fight over him, and played one off against the other.

Ms Scott finally left Sutherland a few days before the murder, and moved into a Salvation Army hostel for the homeless.

According to the prosecution, the killer had pandered to Mr Wilson’s infatuation to keep alive in him the hope that one day Sutherland might love him in the same way that he loved Sutherland.

On the day of the murder, Mr Wilson went to Sutherland’s flat for Sunday lunch, and they drank heavily. Sutherland woke to find Mr Wilson beside him in bed. He "snapped" and strangled him. Later, he collected Ms Scott from the hostel and took her to the flat.

The couple fled to England to visit Sutherland’s brother, and Mr Wilson’s body was left in the bath.

On their return a few days later, Sutherland used a saw to cut off the arms and legs. The head was almost severed from the torso. The pieces were put in bin bags, and dumped in the back green.

Ms Scott said: "I would not go through, but I could hear it ... sawing through bone. He showed no emotion. That frightened me even more.

"It was just like a lump of meat and he was chopping it up for dinner. He said to me to sit in the living room because what he was doing was not for my eyes."

Ms Scott told the jury she later tried to escape from the flat, but Sutherland dragged her back. She feared he was going to kill her. He had said that having done it once, it would be "a walk in the park".

Eventually, she contacted her mother by phone and the police were alerted. Officers went to the flat, and found the body parts in the back green. It was eight days after the murder.

After the jury returned its verdicts, the advocate-depute, Keith Stewart, said Mr Wilson’s elderly and frail parents had described themselves as "truly devastated".

Their son had visited them every week and did everything for them. Mr Wilson’s father, a retired bank manager, suffered from dementia.

Without their son’s help, the couple had been forced to move from sheltered to residential accommodation.