The Hunt for the World's End Killers

On 16 October 1977, the bodies of two young women, Christine Eadie and Helen Scott, were found six miles apart in East Lothian. Both women were bound, sexually assaulted, and strangled with their own clothing. Only the night before, the two childhood friends had gone out for drinks in the World's End pub on Edinburgh's famous Royal Mile. Witnesses recalled Christine and Helen speaking with two unknown men that night. The hunt for the killers became one of the biggest manhunts Scotland has ever seen, as fear gripped Scotland and the press began to link the murders of Christine and Helen with unsolved killings in Glasgow.

This two-part documentary series delves into the dark legacy the elusive killers left on the Scottish capital. With testimony from detectives and forensic scientists who worked on the investigation, journalists who reported on the case, and psychologists who studied the murders, this series follows the twists and turns of one of the most notorious double murders in Scottish criminal history.

This episode takes us back to 1977. Author Ian Rankin, then a 17-year-old student due to start at Edinburgh University, recalls how the capital was a grim, grey place where underage teenagers had no issues getting served in pubs. Despite its picturesque old town and tourist friendly centre, Edinburgh had a dark undercurrent. The law had not long changed to allow women to legally drink in bars, but they often had to tolerate questionable toilet facilities and unwanted attention from unrelenting men.

School friends Helen Scott and Christine Eadie went drinking with friends in Edinburgh, but did not return home. In a revealing interview, former Scotsman columnist Julie Davidson vividly recalls driving on the east coast near Gosford Bay on the morning of October 16th, when she came across a swarm of Lothian and Borders police. The body of 17-year-old Christine Eadie had been discovered by members of the public. Detective Sergeant Douglas Kerr of the murder squad was called out to the grisly scene. Sometime later, Helen's body was found a few miles away, and it was Douglas's task to deliver the awful news to Helen's parents.

Despite huge press attention, the trail soon went cold. But while the investigation faltered, the fear on the streets of Edinburgh only grew. The documentary reveals how sexist attitudes and widespread paranoia generated by the Yorkshire Ripper murders in England created a fearful, intimidating atmosphere for many women in Scotland. This was something further fuelled by the police, who repeatedly urged women to stay indoors.

In the months after the World's End murders, the press began to link the killings to several unsolved murders of women in Glasgow. However, despite similarities between the cases, detectives reveal that they were reluctant to combine the investigations. By the end of the 70s, the investigation into the World's End case had gone cold and it seemed like the killers had escaped justice.