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The Hunt for Mary McLaughlin鈥檚 Killer

Detectives take on a decades-long mystery when they reinvestigate the 1984 murder of Mary McLaughlin. A new suspect comes to the fore, but it raises more questions than answers.

In 1984, 58-year-old Mary McLaughlin was found dead in her home in Glasgow. She had been strangled with the tie of her dressing gown. Mary was last seen walking home from the pub at night, with an unknown man following her. Despite the best efforts of the investigating officers, they couldn鈥檛 identity the unknown man and the trail would run cold for decades.

In 2014, advances in DNA profiling gives new hope to cold cases. Police Scotland detectives and forensic scientists reinvestigate the case, sampling items preserved from the original crime scene to try and find Mary鈥檚 killer. A DNA hit leads to a potential suspect, but even more questions arise when this person appears to have an ironclad alibi. The case won鈥檛 be solved by forensic science alone, and detectives need to go back to basics and hunt in the archives for clues to figure out who killed Mary.

In this documentary, we hear from both the original 1984 investigators as well as contemporary Police Scotland detectives and forensics team who cracked the case.

Release date:

58 minutes

On TV

Tue 21 Jan 2025 21:00

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