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Trial hears World's End witness Witness tells of losing friends
(about 1 hour later)
The trial of a man accused of raping and murdering two girls nearly 30 years ago has heard from a woman who was with them the night they went missing. The trial of a man accused of raping and murdering two teenagers 30 years ago has heard from a friend who was with them the night they went missing.
Jacqueline Thomson was at the World's End pub in Edinburgh's Royal Mile in October 1977.Jacqueline Thomson was at the World's End pub in Edinburgh's Royal Mile in October 1977.
The trial at the High Court in Edinburgh got under way on Monday. She told the High Court in Edinburgh how she saw her friends with two men.
Angus Sinclair, 62, has denied attacking and killing Christine Eadie and Helen Scott, who were both aged 17 at the time.Angus Sinclair, 62, has denied attacking and killing Christine Eadie and Helen Scott, who were both aged 17 at the time.
Their bodies were found in separate locations in East Lothian.Their bodies were found in separate locations in East Lothian.
Mr Sinclair has lodged a special defence incriminating his brother-in-law Gordon Hamilton, who is now dead.Mr Sinclair has lodged a special defence incriminating his brother-in-law Gordon Hamilton, who is now dead.
'Two men'
Nursing auxiliary Ms Thomson, 47, told the court about the last night out with her school friends.
The last time she saw them they were sitting chatting to two men in the World's End she did not know.
The jury were shown black and white photos of the interior of the pub in 1977.
Ms Thomson - then Jacqueline Ingles - said she had known Ms Eadie since primary school and met Ms Scott when they were at Edinburgh's Firrhill High secondary school together.
In October 1977 they had left school. Ms Thompson and Ms Eadie were working in offices and Ms Scott in a kilt maker's shop in Princes Street, Edinburgh.
Ms Thomson was in the World's End pub the night they disappeared
Ms Scott still lived with her parents but Ms Eadie shared a flat in the Abbeyhill area of the city.
On Saturday, 15 October, they and another friend, Toni Wale, arranged to meet up for a girls' night out.
Ms Thomson said by the end of the evening they had visited perhaps seven or eight pubs in the High Street area and she was drunk. She thought her friends were too.
She said Ms Eadie and Ms Scott had a row and went off down an alley beside the World's End pub.
Ms Thomson went to coax them back into the pub and they made up.
"What I can remember is going to the bar, going to the toilet, coming back and Christine and Helen were sitting down with two men," she told advocate depute Alan Mackay, prosecuting.
She said she thought the men were in their early 30s.
'Best friends'
Ms Thomson said she left the pub at closing time to go to a party with Toni Wale but Ms Eadie and Ms Scott turned down an invitation to come along and it was the last time she saw them.
Questioned by defence QC Edgar Prais, Ms Thomson agreed she was finding the experience of giving evidence difficult and a drain on her emotions.
"Thirty years is a long time isn't it?" said Mr Prais. "And you want justice to be done, don't you?"
"Yes," Ms Thomson told him, agreeing she was close to both Ms Eadie and Ms Scott.
"Would you describe them as your best friends?" asked Mr Prais. "Yes," replied Ms Thomson.
The charges allege that at the time, Mr Sinclair was acting along with his now-dead brother-in-law, Gordon Hamilton, who was then 22.
The trial continues.