Suzanne Pilley murder trial: accused’s injuries ‘may have been from scuffle’

INJURIES to the hands of the man accused of murdering Suzanne Pilley could have been fingernail scratches sustained in a scuffle, a jury has heard.

David Gilroy had told a police doctor that he hurt himself by falling into bushes while gardening, and an expert witness agreed that some of the injuries also had that appearance.

Dr Nathaniel Cary said the abrasions seemed to have occurred on or after the day Ms Pilley had disappeared, and not a few days earlier when Gilroy stated he had been gardening.

Dr Cary, a Home Office consultant forensic pathlogist, qualified his opinion by saying that “the dating of injuries is notoriously difficult.”

The High Court in Edinburgh was also told that Gilroy’s car was found to have serious defects which could have happened by driving off road.

Gilroy, 49, of Silverknowes Brae, Edinburgh, denies murdering Ms Pilley, 38, of Whitson Road, Edinburgh, by unknown means on 4 May, 2010, and hiding the body in the premises of Infrastructure Managers Limited (IML), Thistle Street, Edinbrgh, where they both worked.

It is alleged he then transported the body in the boot of his car to various locations in Scotland. Police carried out searches in Argyll but her remains have never been found. The trial continues.