Tracy Main

A front door that should be locked sits slightly open, and a family’s ordinary Tuesday in the Gorbals becomes a nightmare that still echoes through Glasgow’s true crime history. We retell the murder of 13-year-old Tracy Main at Norfolk Court, from the quiet details of her schoolday routine to the moment her mum returns home and realises something is terribly wrong. The post-mortem is brutal, the murder weapon is never found, and the lack of forensic evidence leaves investigators leaning heavily on people, timelines, and what someone claims to know.

We follow the early rush of the murder investigation led by Detective Chief Inspector Les Brown, including the first arrest of George Campbell after reports of indecent propositions to local teenagers. Then the focus swings to Thomas Doherty, a neighbour nicknamed “the Creeper” who is described as having the mental age of an eight-year-old. The pivotal detail is chillingly specific: Doherty says Tracy was stabbed seven times, a number the public had not been told. Is that insider knowledge, a glimpse of the scene, or a misheard news report where “several” becomes “seven”?

The story then becomes a case study in Scottish criminal justice procedure. Defence solicitor Joe Beltrami challenges the reliability of the interviews and the fairness of questioning a vulnerable suspect, and the High Court battle turns on the police caution and the right to remain silent. When the judge rules key statements inadmissible, the prosecution withdraws the charge, the courtroom erupts, and Tracy’s family is left without answers. We end with the cold case reality and the renewed Police Scotland appeal, and what advances in forensic science might still change.

If this story stays with you, please subscribe, share the episode, and leave a review so more listeners can find A Dark City. What do you think happened to Tracy Main, and what should justice look like when a single line of procedure changes everything?

Transcript

Welcome To Glasgow’s Dark Side

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Welcome to A Dark City, the podcast that delves into the shadowy underbell of Glasgow, a city with a storied past and a reputation for resilience. Here, we uncover the chilling true stories of serious crimes that have left their mark on the city's history. From notorious gangland wars to unsolved mysteries, join us as we explore the darker side of Glasgow and the people whose lives were forever changed by its crimes. Do you understand? Cautions must be accurate and read in full. However, everyone makes mistakes. It's just some mistakes are more detrimental than others.

A Normal Morning In The Gorbals

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Tuesday, the 5th of February, 1980, started off for Thomas and Dorothy Main, just like any other weekday. The pair left their second floor tower block flat at Norfolk Court in the Gorbles in Glasgow at 7:15 a.m. And Thomas first drove his wife Dorothy to her job as a cleaner at a working men's hostel before driving to his own job as a hostel superintendent, which was located at the back of the city mortuary. The couple also had a 13-year-old daughter who needed to be woken up each morning for school. And so, at 8 a.m. each morning, Dorothy Main would leave her employment and walk the short distance to the nearby phone box and phone the flat to wake Tracy up. If Tracy was already up and about, she would answer the phone and have a chat with her mom. But more often than not, Dorothy just rang the phone a number of times, knowing it would wake Tracy up before then heading quickly back to the working men's club to continue working. And so at 8 a.m. on Tuesday, the 5th of February, Dorothy once again made her way to the nearby phone box and called her flat, not thinking anything of it, when Tracy didn't answer the phone. And so Dorothy hung up and continued her day, not realizing then just how different her day would end to normal, as back at the men's flat at Norfolk Court, Tracy would not be waking up again. Usually 13-year-old Tracy Main would hear the phone ringing at 8 a.m. prompt, and reluctantly would get out of bed and ready for school, knowing that her friend would be knocking on her door half an hour later so the pair could walk the 26 minutes to school across the river in Bridgetton. However, 8:30 a.m. came, and Tracy's friend knocked as usual at Tracy's flat door, but Tracy didn't answer. Her friend, according to the Glasgow Crime Fighter, the Les Brown Storybook, did hear a bump coming from inside, and so she knocked again and waited. But again Tracy did not answer, and all was now quiet from inside the flat. Disappointed that she would have to walk to school alone, Tracy's friend slowly made her way down the communal stairs, all the while hoping Tracy would come running after her, but she didn't. Thomas and Dorothy Maine both finished work about 4 p.m., and Thomas would usually pick his wife and one of his wife's colleagues up. He then would drop his wife off at their flat first, before taking her colleague home, before then returning to their flat. And so, again, just like any other day, on the 5th of February, Thomas dropped his wife off at their flat in the Gorbles, told her he wouldn't be too long, and drove off. Dorothy then made her way up the stairs to their flat, all the while thinking

The Flat Door Opens By Itself

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what chores she still had to do before she could sit down and finally relax. Dorothy reached their front door and inserted her key, but before she could turn the key in the lock to unlock the door, the door opened slightly. Alarmed and suspecting perhaps they had been or were being burgled, Dorothy retreated and went to her next door neighbor, Miss Lewis, and asked if she would investigate with her, to which Miss Lewis agreed. The pair slowly opened the flat door, which showed no signs of forced entry, and entered. The pair walked along the hallway checking rooms as they passed before coming to the living room and being faced by a horrific sight, with both women then running screaming from the flat, terrified. According to the book Glasgow Crime Fighter, The Les Brown Story, thirteen-year-old Tracy Main was lying partly on the settee and partly on the floor. She was wearing a parka jacket with its zip partially opened, and her trousers and underwear had been pulled down to her knees, and dried blood was visible on the clothing she was wearing under her undone parka jacket from the various stab wounds in the area of her heart, with the dried blood indicating that Tracy had been murdered sometime much earlier in the day. A post-mortem showed that Tracy had been seized by the throat, that a hand had been placed over Tracy's mouth, and that she had been stabbed seven times in the area of her heart. But despite her trousers and knickers being found at her knees, there was no evidence that she had been sexually assaulted. According to Glasgow crime fighter The Les Brown Story, from the postmortem it was revealed that Tracy's wounds had been inflicted by a 10-inch-long by an inch wide kitchen knife that was missing from the Maine's home. This weapon was never found. The police were called, and a murder investigation was quickly

Seven Stabs And A Missing Knife

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underway, with the inquiry being led by Detective Chief Inspector Les Brown, who ordered that all residents in the block of flats the Maine family lived in, as well as Tracy's school friends, be interviewed to try and glean any information as to who Tracy's killer had been. And it would appear that Tracy's murder would be solved quickly, as it was reported in the newspapers the following day that a 35-year-old man had been arrested and taken to the police station for further questioning. However, twelve days later, it was then reported in newspapers that a different man, a 43-year-old, had been arrested and charged with 13-year-old Tracy Maine's murder. So who were these men? And had either of them been Tracy's killer? The police's first port of call was to speak to Tracy's school friends, one of which was a 15-year-old girl who had hung around with Tracy regularly. And this is where detectives had their first leads, as she reported to the police that weeks earlier, she and Tracy had been approached by a man who had offered to pay them to have sex with him. But not only that, Tracy's school friend reported that this has happened the previous year too on several different occasions, where the same man had stopped his car near the park the girls were walking through and offered to pay them to go with him and have sex. Both girls continued to refuse but were disturbed by this man, and so Tracy's friend took down this man's car registration number. And so, upon being spoken to by the police and asked if she could think of anyone that would want to harm Tracy. Tracy's friend told the police about this, as well as handing over the man's car registration number. Detectives quickly found out that the car belonged to 35-year-old George Campbell, and they arrested him the day after Tracy's murder and brought him in for questioning. Tracy's friend further aided the police by picking this

Early Leads And A First Arrest

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man out of an identity parade. However, following this man being questioned and investigated, he only ended up being charged with making indecent suggestions to Tracy and her friend, as well as to a 14-year-old boy. He was released and awaited trial, and so the hunt for Tracy's murderer continued, but it wouldn't be long before another arrest was made. While some police officers were interviewing Tracy's school friends and arresting George Campbell, other officers were speaking to the main family's neighbors in the tower block, and they were quickly made aware of 43-year-old Thomas Doherty, nicknamed the Creeper, who, according to an article in the Glasgow Times, had moved into the tower block six weeks earlier to a flat on the same second floor landing as the Main's, with his common law wife, Mrs. Turner, who was a 73-year-old grandmother. Thomas Doherty was unemployed and had the mental age of an eight-year-old. Following this information coming to light, Thomas Doherty was brought in for questioning before being arrested and subsequently charged with 13-year-old Tracy Main's murder. But surely he hadn't been arrested for Tracy's murder simply because he was called the creeper and had been known for his sly and strange behavior, according to other neighbors. No, he wasn't. But I'll get to that. In the days between George Campbell being ruled out of Tracy's murder and Thomas Doherty being arrested and charged with her murder, Tracy's dad, Thomas Maine, made an emotional appeal for anyone who had any information that could lead to Tracy's killer to please come forward. Tracy's dad, Thomas, went on to say that since his wife Dorothy had found their daughter, their only child, murdered in their flat, they had been unable to live there, would never be able to live there again, before pleading again for anyone with any information to come forward. Interestingly, at the same appeal, Detective Chief Inspector Les Brown revealed, according to an article in The Scotsman on the 8th of February 1980, that a vitally important lead had been given to them anonymously via a telephone call, where the caller had hung up before any further information could be obtained, and DCI Brown was appealing for this person to make contact once again. DCI Brown obviously would not reveal the exact nature of the information at the time, and I could find no other information about this, so I'm not sure if that person ever did get back in touch with the police. While detectives continued to carry out inquiries, wait for this person to call back with more information, further investigate 35-year-old George Campbell after being questioned, and 43-year-old Thomas Doherty being arrested, Tracy Main's funeral took place at a nearby church, where around 1,500 mourners attended, including some of Tracy's teachers and 30 of her fellow pupils. With so many in attendance, not all were able to get into the church. Detectives also attended Tracy's funeral, as well as representatives of Celtic Football Club, as Tracy was a huge Celtic fan, and was described

The Neighbour Called The Creeper

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as being a funny, popular girl who played football with the boys around the streets where she lived. So back to 43-year-old Thomas Doherty, who had been arrested and questioned regarding Tracy's murder, and then charged with her murder two days after her funeral. But what led to him being charged? Had forensic evidence been found? Or had a witness come forward? No, nothing like that. It was something that came out of his own mouth when he was being questioned. Thomas Doherty had been interviewed on a number of occasions by detectives. During one interview, he had admitted openly to DCI Les Brown that he had known Tracy, which as he lived on the same floor as her, wouldn't have been a great admission. However, also during questioning, he actually described to detectives the location and positioning of Tracy's body when she had been found. Now, while this was an interesting admission, DCI Brown had a problem. Firstly, he had to take into account Thomas Doherty's mental age being that of an eight-year-old. Did he understand what was going on, what he was being interviewed for, and how what he said could be taken? And secondly, did this admission mean that he actually killed Tracy? Or was it a case of he had seen Tracy's body through the open flat door before the police had arrived? While DCI Brown mulled this over, his boss, Detective Superintendent Ian Smith, who had also been interviewing Thomas Doherty alongside D.C.I. Brown, excused himself briefly from the interview. And it was at this point that Thomas Doherty said something that had not been released to the general public. A fact which confirmed in DCY Brown's mind that Thomas Doherty was Tracy Maine's murderer. While the media had been informed that Tracy had been stabbed in a frenzied attack, it had never been disclosed how many times Tracy had actually been stabbed. In fact, it was seven times. And so, when Thomas Doherty revealed to D.C.I. Brown during a break in one of many interviews, while Detective Superintendent Ian Smith had briefly left the room that Tracy had been stabbed seven times, D.C.I. Brown believed that they had their man. DCI Les Brown called Detective Superintendent Ian Smith back into the room where, before asking Thomas Doherty to repeat what he had told him to Detective Superintendent Smith, he cautioned him before finally charging him with Tracy Maine's murder, believing he now had enough evidence to secure a conviction, despite Thomas Doherty telling both detectives that he had heard the claim Tracy had been stabbed seven times from a news bulletin. According to Glasgow crime fighter, the Les Brown story, during questioning, after being cautioned, Thomas Doherty said other things that led a lot of the detectives working on the case to believe he was Tracy's murderer, such as he had been able to show on an upper half of a human form on a piece of paper where Tracy had been stabbed. He had said he knew the Maine's daily schedule, saying that Mr. and Mrs. Main left at 7.15 a.m. and returned by 4 p.m. He also apparently mentioned that Tracy had stayed off school the day she was murdered, and that if she had gone to school, she wouldn't have been murdered. Thomas Doherty was also taken back to Tracy's flat and asked to lie where Tracy's body had been found, which he was able to replicate exactly, indicating that he definitely had seen Tracy's body. He also demonstrated to DCI Les Brown how Tracy's killer would have grabbed Tracy and stopped her from screaming, before again pretending to stab DCI Brown in the area Tracy had been stabbed. Thomas also apparently talked about what the man who had killed Tracy, hypothetically, would have done with the knife, saying that he would have first tried to put it down the toilet, but that it wouldn't go, and so he would have ended up throwing it into the Clyde at a particular spot. This particular spot of the Clyde was searched, but no knife was found. However, upon Thomas Doherty's solicitor, Joe Beltrami, who also featured in our episode A Murder, A Shooting Spree, and a Royal Pardon, carrying out his first consultation with Thomas Doherty, he was not only convinced of his client's innocence, especially as there was no forensic evidence at all linking him to Tracy's murder. But according to the defender, Tales of the Suspected, written by Joe

A Confession Or A Misunderstanding

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Beltrami, it was also clear to Joe Beltrami that Thomas Doherty didn't actually realize he had been charged with Tracy's murder, and that it was clear to him that Thomas Doherty could be persuaded to say anything. But Joe Beltrami still felt he needed to explain how Thomas Doherty had known that Tracy had been stabbed seven times when this information had not been released publicly. And so, Joe Beltrami contacted the BBC and STV News, asking them to release copies of all their coverage about Tracy Maine's murder, so this could be gone through to see if it had been mentioned at all that Tracy had been stabbed seven times. It wasn't mentioned. However, according to a Glasgow Times article, what was said by one STV news presenter was that Tracy had been stabbed several times. Joe Beltrami began to think that Thomas Doherty, with his mental age of eight, had perhaps misheard the report and thought seven had been said instead of several. While Joe Beltrami believed a jury would agree with this and clear his client, he was also concerned that due to the media reporting of Tracy's murder and the pressure that had been put on to catch Tracy's killer, the jury might feel pressured to find his client guilty without solid evidence. And so, as Joe Beltrami had a good, if not sometimes fraught, relationship with DCI Les Brown, he spoke to him and explained his theory around the several and seven mistake, as well as made it clear that he did not believe Thomas Doherty had killed Tracy Main. However, DCI Brown was having none of it. He was convinced Thomas Doherty was Tracy Main's murderer. Before a trial date could be set, though, Thomas Doherty had to be examined by two psychiatrists to determine if he was fit to stand trial. And despite Joe Beltrami's concerns, both psychiatrists deemed that he was fit to stand trial, and so a trial date was set, and the defense team began the task of preparing for a tough fight to clear their client. It wouldn't be until the day before the trial that a shocking discovery was made by the defense team, that if disclosed could see the trial be called off and Thomas Doherty walk free on a technicality. However, did they want their client to walk free on a technicality, with everyone always wondering if he had in fact killed Tracy or should they not disclose the information they had found, allowing the trial to go ahead in the hope that the jury found Thomas Doherty innocent? Well, they decided that the trial had to go ahead, and the shocking evidence was to be revealed during it. And so on the 2nd of June 1980, Tracy's distraught friends and family made their way to the High Court in Glasgow, where they prepared themselves to have to sit through the graphic details of Tracy's murder, all the while hoping and praying that at the end of the trial, their beloved Tracy would receive justice when her killer was found guilty. Before the trial began, Thomas Doherty's charge was read out, which, according to the Scotsman on the 18th of February 1980, alleged that he had assaulted Tracy on the 5th of February in her home, and seized her by the throat and face, and struck her on the body with a knife and murdered her. The first day of the trial consisted mainly of forensic and medical evidence, medical evidence I've mentioned already, and there wasn't any forensic evidence that directly linked Thomas Doherty to Tracy's murder, so I'm not going to go into those details. Day two began with the prosecution telling the jury just why Thomas Doherty had been charged with Tracy's murder,

The Trial Turns On The Caution

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because he said she had been stabbed seven times when this information had never been released to the public. The jury and those in the public gallery, including Tracy's family and friends, then spent half the day, according to the Scotsman, on the 4th of June 1980, being shown television film of the murder hunt, and transcripts of all TV, radio, and press accounts of the search for Tracy's killer, with it being established at the end of this that at no point had it been mentioned that Tracy had received seven fatal stab wounds in the chest. After lunch, Detective Chief Inspector Les Brown took to the stand to give evidence on how he had obtained this vital piece of information from Thomas Doherty. DCI Brown started by saying, Thomas Doherty had been brought in for questioning after being drawn to detectives' attention by other residents of Tracy's block of flats. He told the court that he and his boss, Detective Superintendent Ian Smith, had been interviewing Thomas Doherty when his boss left the room for a minute, and that it was at this point when D.C.I. Brown had again asked Thomas Doherty if he had heard about the murder, that he had replied that he had seen it on television, and that he had heard the announcer say that she had been stabbed seven times, a fact that has now been proven never happened. DCI Brown said he then shouted for Detective Superintendent Smith to come back into the room, at which point he cautioned Thomas Doherty. And it was at this point that the defense, Mr. Hugh Morton QC, got to his feet and objected, and thereafter a two-hour debate took place about the wording of the caution once the jury had been asked to leave the courtroom. The defense team's shocking discovery the day before the trial began had been that D.C. I Les Brown, the officer in charge of the investigation, had not written down in his notebook that Thomas Doherty was entitled to stay silent when he cautioned him. D.C. I Les Brown argued, according to the Scotsman on the 4th of June 1980, that this part of the caution was sometimes given parrot-wise, and that was probably why he had not written it in his notebook. But on his recollection, he was absolutely sure he had advised Thomas Doherty of his right to remain silent. Well, D.C. I Brown's boss, Detective Superintendent Ian Smith, was there in the room too at the time of the caution. He would have surely picked it up if D.C. I Brown had failed to mention this vital part of the caution. And as DCI Brown had said, he definitely recalled saying this to Thomas Doherty, and so this would likely have been written correctly in his boss's notebook. And so, Detective Superintendent Ian Smith was called to the stand, where he said that he had written down the exact caution given to Thomas Doherty by D.C. I Brown. Detective Superintendent Smith had also omitted to write down the fact that Thomas Doherty had the right to remain silent. He said he had written down exactly what D.C. I Brown had said, which, according to Glasgow Crime Fighter, the Les Brown story was Thomas It is my duty to inform you that in connection with the murder of Tracy Mean on the 5th of the second, 1980, and in an effort to establish the identity of the person responsible, I am going to ask you some questions. I must warn you that any answers you give will be noted and may be given in evidence. Do you understand? To which Thomas Doherty said, Yes. So it would appear that D.C.I. Brown did omit this vital part of the caution. Back in the 1980s, interviews weren't recorded, so we can only go with what was written in both notebooks. The jury were called back in, and Lord Cowie, the judge presiding over the trial, said, according to an article in The Scotsman on the 4th of June 1980, that it is with regret, I have to say, that Detective Chief Inspector Brown is wrong in saying he administered the full and normal caution to the accused on this occasion. I would be slow to criticize senior officers on matters of this sort, particularly when something is done in the course of a difficult, protracted, and serious police inquiry. But unfortunately, I had the benefit of the evidence of Superintendent Smith, who was present at the time of the caution, and he confirmed that the caution was administered in the terms written in Mr. Brown's notebook. Lord Cowie then ruled that anything Thomas Doherty had said after he had been cautioned was inadmissible, at which point the prosecution withdrew the charge.

Charge Withdrawn And Courtroom Fury

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Gasps, sobs, and angry shouts from the public benches were then heard, when Lord Cowie directed that the jury find Thomas Doherty not guilty. He continued by saying, Whatever one might think about this, it is absolutely essential that justice must be done and be seen to be done. Tracy's dad, Thomas, spoke to reporters outside of the court and said, according to the Scotsman on the 4th of June, said, I'm shocked and disappointed. What more can I say? Although he did say the following day in the Scotsman newspaper that he did not blame the police for the outcome of the trial, but that he was extremely upset that a legal technicality had brought the trial to an end. Thomas Maine even called into the police station and offered D.C.I. Les Brown and other detectives his support after the trial collapsed. However, before this, on the day of the collapsed trial, as the anger grew in and out of the High Court in Glasgow at the massive mistake by two top detectives and the subsequent collapse of the trial, D.C. Y. Les Brown, in shock himself and being the target of many angry friends and relatives, left the court in a daze. He couldn't believe he had made such a stupid mistake, but he had. So now he had to face it as well as any repercussions. But first, he and Joe Beltrami had to ensure the safety of Thomas Doherty, whose life was now in danger as a contract had been put out on him. Thomas Doherty was smuggled quietly out the back of the court, while angry friends and relatives gathered at the front, and he was taken to a police station for his own safety, where he stayed for two days before he was taken to Carstairs Psychiatric Hospital as a voluntary patient, and he stayed here for a month before he was moved, according to the Glasgow Times in November 2020, to a social work hostel in a secret location in England where he remained, never returning to Glasgow. D.C. I Les Brown was crucified in newspapers, with it being said in the Scotsman on the 5th of June 1980, that the Member of Parliament whose area covered the flat where Tracy was found was profoundly disturbed by the simple mistake made by D.C. I Brown, and that he would be seeking urgent meetings with the Solicitor General for Scotland and Strathclyde Police's chief constable, the then Chief Constable, Patrick Hamill. A full investigation was launched by the then Strathclyde Police and Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service into why the caution error

Fallout For Police And Family

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had not been noticed a long time before the trial had begun, as well as raising the issue of general police procedures when dealing with people such as Thomas Doherty, who had a subnormal mentality and what lessons should be learned. With Chief Constable Patrick Hamill saying, We are studying the matter very carefully and all its possible implications. It was also reported that the elementary police blunder was raised in the House of Commons in England. Despite all this, DCI Brown was happily surprised when he himself had to meet with Chief Constable Patrick Hamill the day after the disastrous trial. As DCI Les Brown stood nervously in front of the Chief Constable, waiting to be berated. Instead, the Chief Constable only said to the DCI, according to the Les Brown story, You have made a mistake, which you have admitted, but it could have happened to anyone. DCI Les Brown, however, was moved out of the murder investigation team within the week, and sent to the criminal intelligence department instead, as he had lost his credibility. With Thomas Doherty now safely in hiding, his solicitor Joe Beltrame said in an article in The Scotsman that he was disappointed the trial had not gone the full distance, as he was sure Thomas Doherty would have been acquitted due to the lack of evidence. He advised that at no point did he think that Thomas Doherty had carried out this dreadful murder, and he felt it was unfair that Thomas Doherty was being held responsible for being Tracy's murderer by members of the public. D.C.I. Les Brown went on to kind of back this up by saying in his book that a well-known criminal had told him that, in his opinion, Les had known that Thomas Doherty was innocent, and he had deliberately made the caution error so that Thomas Doherty would be cleared, and that an underworld contact had told D.C.I. Brown that he was certain Thomas Doherty was innocent. Les Brown, who passed away in 2019, said in his book that there is no doubt in his mind that Thomas Doherty saw Tracy's body at some stage, but whether he murdered her or not, he had no idea. There was no forensic evidence to link him to Tracy's murder, and no weapon was ever found. For him, the mystery of who killed Tracy Main goes on, but he hoped that the truth would come out one day. All that he is sure of is that Tracy Main's case has a legacy of lessons to be learned, even by today's police. In December 2020, a new appeal was made for anyone with information

The Cold Case Remains Open]

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about the murder of 13-year-old Tracy Main to come forward. Tracy's murder may have taken place 40 years prior, and it may be a cold case, but it remained an unresolved murder and still remains open, with detectives from the homicide and governance review team ready to assess and investigate any new information they receive from the public or through developments in forensic science. If you know anything about Tracy's murder, please contact Police Scotland on 101 or Crime Stoppers anonymously on 0800555111 if you're in the UK.