Suzanne Pilley: The Woman Who Vanished

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0:00:07 > 0:00:11This is Silverknowes, a quiet suburb of Edinburgh. Two years ago

0:00:11 > 0:00:19one resident here had a dark secret. This is David Gilroy, a man being

0:00:19 > 0:00:22investigated for the murder of his lover, Suzanne Pilley. Suzanne and

0:00:22 > 0:00:29I had a relationship until January of this year when I moved back to

0:00:29 > 0:00:32the family home. There clearly is a belief in some

0:00:32 > 0:00:36quarters that you are a murderer, that you killed Suzanne Pilley.

0:00:36 > 0:00:39What do you say to that? No, that's not the case. But he was lying.

0:00:39 > 0:00:41Tonight we reveal the remarkable story of how he was brought to

0:00:41 > 0:00:44justice with unprecedented access to the police investigation and the

0:00:44 > 0:00:53only interview with Suzanne's family, the story of a woman who

0:00:53 > 0:00:58simply vanished. These are the last sightings of Suzanne Pilley as we

0:00:58 > 0:01:01know it. We're not finished until we're able to bring some sort of

0:01:01 > 0:01:04closure for the family. There's just a lot of parents out there

0:01:04 > 0:01:06that will know where their children are and where they'll be sleeping

0:01:06 > 0:01:16tonight, but unfortunately, my family doesn't know where Suzanne

0:01:16 > 0:01:27

0:01:27 > 0:01:30is sleeping. This morning in a highly unusual move, cameras were

0:01:30 > 0:01:37allowed into the High Court to see David Gilroy sentenced to serve a

0:01:37 > 0:01:39minimum of 18 years for Suzanne Pilley's murder. She just

0:01:39 > 0:01:42disappeared, and the jury were satisfied on the evidence before

0:01:42 > 0:01:46them that that was because you murdered her and disposed of her

0:01:46 > 0:01:56body, and it seems that you are the only person who knows where her

0:01:56 > 0:01:58

0:01:58 > 0:02:01only person who knows where her body is. I hope that a day will

0:02:01 > 0:02:11come in your life when you feel able to disclose that information,

0:02:11 > 0:02:16

0:02:16 > 0:02:19and that might bring some comfort This has been a high-profile trial,

0:02:19 > 0:02:22and the most remarkable thing about it with that it was a murder case

0:02:22 > 0:02:24without a dead body, and that's meant police and prosecutors have

0:02:24 > 0:02:27had to secure this conviction using ground-breaking techniques. Suzanne

0:02:27 > 0:02:34Pilley went missing almost two years ago. Her murderer was cold

0:02:34 > 0:02:43and calculating. He created almost the perfect cover-up for his crime,

0:02:43 > 0:02:46and to this day, no-one knows what he did with her body. This is a

0:02:46 > 0:02:48story not only of the extraordinary police investigation to convict a

0:02:48 > 0:02:51murderer with no body, but it's also a story about Scotland's

0:02:51 > 0:02:54surveillance culture that tracks all of our movements in the

0:02:54 > 0:02:57smallest of details. These are the only images of Suzanne Pilley and

0:02:57 > 0:03:03David Gilroy together caught on a supermarket camera, one of the

0:03:03 > 0:03:10thousands of cameras which capture our everyday lives. It's Sunday,

0:03:10 > 0:03:13the 2nd of May. They're buying dinner near her flat. What looks

0:03:13 > 0:03:16like an unremarkable domestic scene is in fact his last desperate

0:03:16 > 0:03:23attempt to resurrect their relationship. Two days later, he

0:03:23 > 0:03:27killed her. Suzanne was constantly in touch with her mother and father

0:03:27 > 0:03:31and sister. They were a very close family. Her father agreed to speak

0:03:31 > 0:03:41to this is programme. It's the only interview he's done. I was the last

0:03:41 > 0:03:44

0:03:44 > 0:03:48one to see her in the family. I picked her up for the shops, and I

0:03:48 > 0:03:51dropped her off at the stair, and at the time, I was bad with my

0:03:51 > 0:03:55walking. I was getting operations done to my legs, so I couldn't help

0:03:55 > 0:04:02her up the stairway. She just gave me a wee peck on the cheek, and

0:04:02 > 0:04:04that was the last I seen of her, never seen her again since.

0:04:04 > 0:04:07starting point for the police investigation was CCTV which

0:04:07 > 0:04:14captured Suzanne's journey into work. It was 8.19pm on Tuesday, May

0:04:14 > 0:04:17the 4th. She'd just spent the night with a new man she'd begun seeing,

0:04:17 > 0:04:22but her former lover, David Gilroy, had spent the last few weeks

0:04:22 > 0:04:25besieging her with hundreds of texts and voicemails. Police were

0:04:25 > 0:04:30able to recover everything left on her phone even though it's never

0:04:30 > 0:04:36been found. I was just wanting to have a chat. We could sort

0:04:36 > 0:04:41everything out. You know, I think both of us probably pushed things a

0:04:41 > 0:04:47bit too far last night, and I just wanted to chat, OK? Suzanne had

0:04:47 > 0:04:55told him it was over once and for all. Hi. It's David. I'm just

0:04:55 > 0:05:00wondering how you are. I was really a bit worried. Is everything OK?

0:05:00 > 0:05:04It's David. Give me a wee phone back. Bye. I'll catch you later.

0:05:04 > 0:05:06Bye. She was moving on, but he wasn't willing to accept that. The

0:05:06 > 0:05:16CCTV became central to the case because Suzanne had simply

0:05:16 > 0:05:17

0:05:17 > 0:05:21disappeared. Her mother was texting her, and I think her daughter, she

0:05:21 > 0:05:25- she got on the voicemail as well, and she gave her, excuse the phrase,

0:05:25 > 0:05:35but hell for not getting in touch with us, but as time went on, I

0:05:35 > 0:05:42

0:05:42 > 0:05:45thought some - something sinister had happened. It was a bit - 6.30pm,

0:05:45 > 0:05:496.45pm, and she and I decided that we'd better phone the police and

0:05:49 > 0:05:52get in touch with the police. She was always on the phone to her

0:05:52 > 0:05:55mother, and Saturday night was text night. You know, you're watching

0:05:55 > 0:06:02the television and things like that, you know, and we just - we just

0:06:02 > 0:06:06miss her and that. Saturday night just isn't going to be the same.

0:06:06 > 0:06:08How does a woman who, like many of us, works in an office, commutes

0:06:08 > 0:06:11into the City and leads a very straightforward, normal life

0:06:11 > 0:06:19suddenly disappear in the middle of the City, in the middle of rush

0:06:19 > 0:06:21hour, without a trace? The answer we'll show you tonight came through

0:06:21 > 0:06:24modern police techniques and ultimately the ability to

0:06:24 > 0:06:27reconstruct 48 hours - two days in May pieced together through pain-

0:06:27 > 0:06:37staking efforts and relying on the electronic trail we all leave in

0:06:37 > 0:06:46our surveillance society. This is the man who had to build that case,

0:06:46 > 0:06:49Detective Superintendent Gary Flanigan. We overlaid our own, you

0:06:49 > 0:06:51know, if you like, electronic footprint, how we live our lives,

0:06:51 > 0:06:54so everything we do from text messages from, you know,

0:06:54 > 0:06:57photocopiers that have a log-in - you know, every aspect from

0:06:57 > 0:07:01telephones which record our use - everything - we overlaid to give us,

0:07:01 > 0:07:04you know, a time line to be able to chart people's movements, and that

0:07:04 > 0:07:13was - you know, that's been - that's been the hallmark of this

0:07:13 > 0:07:18investigation. The first question he had to answer

0:07:18 > 0:07:20was a fundamental one. You're having to establish that Suzanne -

0:07:20 > 0:07:22through all the circumstances Suzanne was dead taking into

0:07:22 > 0:07:25consideration all we know about her normal behaviour, just

0:07:25 > 0:07:34demonstrating that, you know, it's so unlike her that there can only

0:07:34 > 0:07:37be one explanation. Although a network of CCTV cameras covered

0:07:37 > 0:07:42Suzanne's last journey, none had a clear view of her getting to her

0:07:42 > 0:07:47office door. Police had to prove she'd arrived and that Gilroy had

0:07:47 > 0:07:52the opportunity to kill her soon after. This is the man who had to

0:07:52 > 0:07:57wade through hours of that material. It took footage from 84 different

0:07:57 > 0:08:00premises, which equates to about a thousand hours of footage. We

0:08:00 > 0:08:04really needed that starting point of having Suzanne leaving the bus

0:08:04 > 0:08:07and making her way to work, and from there we were able to build up

0:08:07 > 0:08:11that picture of her movements that day, and my role was to ensure that,

0:08:11 > 0:08:13one that she got to work and that also that she didn't return away

0:08:13 > 0:08:21from the building, that actually once she'd entered, she didn't

0:08:21 > 0:08:24leave again. And they also traced David Gilroy. Bus cameras show he'd

0:08:24 > 0:08:28travelled early to the office where he and Suzanne worked together.

0:08:28 > 0:08:31They'd been having a secret affair for more than a year. They'd

0:08:31 > 0:08:34managed to keep it hidden from colleagues, but it was a turbulent

0:08:34 > 0:08:40relationship. He was controlling, manipulative and could be

0:08:40 > 0:08:43aggressive. A little later, Suzanne arrives in the City centre. She

0:08:43 > 0:08:50stops at the supermarket just around the corner from her work.

0:08:50 > 0:08:55It's 8.50pm. Police had to prove she'd carried on her usual route,

0:08:55 > 0:08:58that she'd not suddenly left Edinburgh. They turned to

0:08:58 > 0:09:02specialist CCTV investigators for help and brought in an expert in

0:09:02 > 0:09:08extracting tiny details from surveillance camera footage.

0:09:08 > 0:09:11instructions were to look at all the sightings of Suzanne Pilley.

0:09:11 > 0:09:20These sightings started from Suzanne Pilley getting on the bus

0:09:20 > 0:09:23at the start of her day. It's good- quality footage showing what she's

0:09:23 > 0:09:26wearing and what she looks like, what her hair was like, the tones

0:09:26 > 0:09:34and colours of her clothes, and then moved between each location

0:09:34 > 0:09:37following that along a map. This then led to later sightings leading

0:09:37 > 0:09:44up to Suzanne Pilley's work where the quality of the imagery was not

0:09:44 > 0:09:47as good - just a few sort of pixels that would show a person.

0:09:47 > 0:09:50eventually came down to proving that this grainy image from a

0:09:50 > 0:09:57distant camera was Suzanne only metres from the front door of her

0:09:57 > 0:10:00office. The distance you see here in the red circle - that's where

0:10:00 > 0:10:04the - that's the sighting of the person believed to be Suzanne

0:10:04 > 0:10:07Pilley, and it's this person I've then viewed to look at what the

0:10:07 > 0:10:10tones of the clothing are like - and not just what that person's

0:10:10 > 0:10:13like, but also in comparison to other people on the street as well

0:10:13 > 0:10:19so you can get an indication of what someone in dark-coloured

0:10:19 > 0:10:25clothing would look like. But her clothing is actually more of a

0:10:25 > 0:10:28lighter tone than those around her. There's also a moment where there's

0:10:29 > 0:10:38a dark tone midway down the body, which could also be the bag that's

0:10:39 > 0:10:40

0:10:40 > 0:10:43being carried earlier on, which can be seen here. So all that together

0:10:43 > 0:10:45with the location and the timings - all that added together allow

0:10:45 > 0:10:48significant evidence to say that it's the same person throughout,

0:10:48 > 0:10:51and then these are the last sightings of Suzanne Pilley as we

0:10:51 > 0:10:59know it. Investigators were now convinced Suzanne was dead, and

0:10:59 > 0:11:03that creeping realisation was happening for her family too.

0:11:03 > 0:11:07think - I don't think - I thought to myself that I'm never going to

0:11:07 > 0:11:11see her again. I don't know whether it's - what it was, but it was just

0:11:12 > 0:11:15so unlike Suzanne not to be in touch. I knew there must have been

0:11:15 > 0:11:17something sinister had happened, and it's - it was just the case of

0:11:17 > 0:11:21being the police to see that something had happened, like, you

0:11:21 > 0:11:23know, that's when they said they'd seen her on the - during the

0:11:23 > 0:11:33investigation they'd seen her on CCTV and eventually arriving and

0:11:33 > 0:11:34

0:11:34 > 0:11:36going to her work. Although police launched a public appeal for

0:11:36 > 0:11:38information, the electronic evidence they'd gathered from

0:11:38 > 0:11:47Suzanne's intimate personal e-mails and public CCTV cameras quickly

0:11:47 > 0:11:52pointed towards one man. It was David Gilroy, the lover she'd

0:11:52 > 0:11:55become determined to break away from. There clearly is a belief in

0:11:55 > 0:12:01some quarters that you are a murderer, that you killed Suzanne

0:12:01 > 0:12:04Pilley. What do you say to that? that's not the case, and the police

0:12:04 > 0:12:10will do their investigation, and time will show that, you know, I

0:12:10 > 0:12:13don't have anything to answer to. That's all I've got to say. Gilroy

0:12:13 > 0:12:17had been an electrical engineer in the Royal Navy, but he had a

0:12:17 > 0:12:19reputation for exaggerating his military career. He was now a

0:12:19 > 0:12:24regional manager regarded as an expert problem solver and good

0:12:24 > 0:12:26under pressure. Given his relationship with Suzanne, he was

0:12:26 > 0:12:31the prime suspect, but without Suzanne's body and hard forensic

0:12:31 > 0:12:37evidence, it seemed he'd committed the perfect crime. But he was

0:12:37 > 0:12:45leaving an electronic trail. He'd called and texted Suzanne 450 times

0:12:45 > 0:12:48in three weeks, but incredibly, he stopped the moment she vanished.

0:12:48 > 0:12:51That morning, colleagues quickly noticed Suzanne was missing, and

0:12:51 > 0:12:55they described Gilroy as seeming clammy, sweaty, and he had marks on

0:12:55 > 0:12:58his face and his neck. Gilroy knew there was no CCTV anywhere within

0:12:58 > 0:13:05his building, but cameras on the properties outside show him going

0:13:05 > 0:13:08in and out of the basement garage. What was he doing? He'd arrived by

0:13:08 > 0:13:13bus, but that morning, he made excuses to go home and collect his

0:13:13 > 0:13:18car. He brought a silver Vauxhall back to the garage. At lunch time,

0:13:18 > 0:13:24he goes shopping. Inside the bag, he's carrying are four air

0:13:24 > 0:13:27fresheners he's just bought. Police were increasingly convinced he

0:13:27 > 0:13:30killed Suzanne soon after she'd arrived at work, that she'd

0:13:30 > 0:13:33followed him to the basement, where there had been a fight, and he'd

0:13:33 > 0:13:37hidden her body under a stairwell. Once I've established that Suzanne

0:13:37 > 0:13:40has, you know, for all intents and purposes, made to it her work, the

0:13:40 > 0:13:44great challenge that I'm faced with - the premises, obviously, is the

0:13:44 > 0:13:47sheer size. It was a very, very large space and different levels

0:13:47 > 0:13:55with, you know, a number of separate offices and spaces where,

0:13:55 > 0:14:02in theory, something could have happened to Suzanne. With little to

0:14:02 > 0:14:06go on, police turn to the most basic of senses, the sense of smell.

0:14:06 > 0:14:11That's why I decided to bring the dogs in who are trained and, you

0:14:11 > 0:14:14know, trained in detecting dead bodies. Gary Flanigan took the

0:14:14 > 0:14:16unusual step of bringing in two highly trained cadaver dogs from

0:14:16 > 0:14:22South Yorkshire Police's is specialist dogs unit to give

0:14:22 > 0:14:29forensic teams a focus to gather evidence. When you die, your body

0:14:29 > 0:14:32automatically starts breaking down. The chemicals in your body start

0:14:32 > 0:14:35decomposing, and your body gives off numerous gases, and the dogs

0:14:35 > 0:14:37are picking up on the gases that are produced by the body

0:14:38 > 0:14:46decomposing, and that's what they alert to. Check this. Check. Check

0:14:46 > 0:14:50this. Check. The dogs are capable. They really are capable of

0:14:50 > 0:14:56indicating something at this moment in time. I think the forensic

0:14:56 > 0:15:00technology is quite not there. days after Suzanne went missing,

0:15:00 > 0:15:05the dogs were brought to Edinburgh. The spaniel Buster searched the

0:15:05 > 0:15:08basement first and almost immediately got a result. Buster,

0:15:08 > 0:15:14when he was first on the ground floor basement area, and during the

0:15:14 > 0:15:17search of that, there were several indications from the dog. The dog

0:15:17 > 0:15:22had searched and located something which he is trained to search for,

0:15:22 > 0:15:29and that is the scent of human decomposing remains and human blood.

0:15:29 > 0:15:32The indications were pointed out. We carried on searching through the

0:15:32 > 0:15:35entire building in conjunction with putting the dog away, getting Ian's

0:15:35 > 0:15:38dog out and obviously letting Ian work his dog on those areas. There

0:15:38 > 0:15:41were no indications from either dog anywhere else other than - within

0:15:41 > 0:15:48areas within the garage basement and a recess area under the

0:15:48 > 0:15:56stairwell. One of the areas Buster identified was exactly where

0:15:56 > 0:15:59Gilroy's car had been parked right next to the boot. That was quite a

0:15:59 > 0:16:01significant breakthrough for us there, and that led to then, you

0:16:01 > 0:16:04know, a painstaking approach for the forensic scientists and scenes

0:16:04 > 0:16:13of crime people, you know, who spent two or three days then going

0:16:13 > 0:16:16through the area forensically. an exhaustive forensic search found

0:16:16 > 0:16:20nothing to back up the dogs' indications. The investigation

0:16:20 > 0:16:23could have faltered. More evidence was needed. Gilroy had been clever

0:16:23 > 0:16:30covering his tracks, but he also underestimated the ability of

0:16:30 > 0:16:33police to track his movements. of the first things that he did

0:16:33 > 0:16:36emerging from the basement was to go on to his computer and make a

0:16:37 > 0:16:43diary entry which would give him the cover to go to Argyle the

0:16:43 > 0:16:47following day. When he finished his work that day with the arrangements

0:16:47 > 0:16:55in hand, we now believe Suzanne in the boot of his vehicle, he drove

0:16:55 > 0:16:58home and then behaved in a very normal fashion. Here is David

0:16:58 > 0:17:02Gilroy that evening going to a school concert. Scotland's CCTV

0:17:02 > 0:17:07network is so extensive, it captures the most innocuous detail.

0:17:07 > 0:17:10We can even see him here in this restaurant having dinner. It's only

0:17:10 > 0:17:16hours after he murdered Suzanne, but he's already got a plan to get

0:17:16 > 0:17:19rid of her body. It's the day after Suzanne disappeared. Gilroy's

0:17:19 > 0:17:28heading for Argyle, a trip police were able to reconstruct through

0:17:28 > 0:17:31CCTV. He gets petrol, buys some lunch. Nothing is unusual, but all

0:17:31 > 0:17:34the time, Suzanne is in the boot of his car. These pictures are

0:17:34 > 0:17:41remarkable. The inquiry team used 250 cameras in pursuit of the

0:17:41 > 0:17:44investigation. It was a case of basically dividing up the country

0:17:44 > 0:17:54and joining up intersections that allow us to go and pursue all CCTV

0:17:54 > 0:17:57that can be recovered in that area. The whole process of that was to

0:17:57 > 0:18:00show that this was the movements of this person across the country from

0:18:00 > 0:18:04the area of Stirling all the way through to Inveraray and also we

0:18:04 > 0:18:08had officers who were based in the Argyle area for a number of weeks

0:18:08 > 0:18:10who carried out a number of trawls for CCTV in that area, not just the

0:18:10 > 0:18:12main route we'd covered from Inveraray to Lochgilphead, but

0:18:12 > 0:18:19surrounding routes as well, particularly up in towards Arrochar

0:18:19 > 0:18:25and Rest & Be Thankful. Gilroy would routinely visit Lochgilphead

0:18:25 > 0:18:27for work up to 30 times a year. He would usually travel the most

0:18:27 > 0:18:32direct route up Loch Lomond site, but police discovered on this

0:18:32 > 0:18:38occasion, he travelled much further north via Tyndrum to Inveraray.

0:18:38 > 0:18:48That looked suspicious. This is Gilroy's mobile phone seized by

0:18:48 > 0:18:49

0:18:49 > 0:18:53police along with his car. It's just another piece of technology we

0:18:53 > 0:18:59all use, but it gave major clues as to his movements, even when he

0:18:59 > 0:19:01switched it off. During the course of the inquiry, we had assistance

0:19:01 > 0:19:04from various experts, and someone very quickly realised that there

0:19:04 > 0:19:06was something indeed really interesting in that he turned his

0:19:06 > 0:19:09phone off around the Stirling area and hadn't reconnected his phone

0:19:09 > 0:19:12until he reached Inveraray, and then on his return journey, he'd

0:19:12 > 0:19:17mimicked that and switched his phone off and then switched his

0:19:17 > 0:19:23phone back on. Clearly, that was very significant to the

0:19:23 > 0:19:26investigation. I was, you know, immediately aware that the - there

0:19:26 > 0:19:29was a similarity in the length of time that he was effectively

0:19:29 > 0:19:35uncontactable during the afternoon - was similar to the evening, and

0:19:35 > 0:19:38it arrived, the car, around the same area. So police suspected

0:19:38 > 0:19:41Gilroy had deliberately turned his phone off to conceal his movements

0:19:41 > 0:19:49when he was disposing of Suzanne's body, but where? Damage to his car

0:19:49 > 0:19:52suggested somewhere remote deep in the forests of Argyle. Upon

0:19:52 > 0:19:57examining the vehicle, it was found that the suspension coil was

0:19:57 > 0:19:59fractured both at the top and the base. Not only was the front

0:19:59 > 0:20:09offside suspension coils damaged, the front nearside suspension coil

0:20:09 > 0:20:19

0:20:19 > 0:20:23was fractured, and the rear offside suspension coil was also fractured.

0:20:23 > 0:20:26When you put a that into context with the fact that there was

0:20:26 > 0:20:29longitudnal scrape marks on the under side of the vehicle and there

0:20:29 > 0:20:32was also vegetation clinging to the under side of the vehicle, it was

0:20:32 > 0:20:35in my opinion consist went the vehicle having been driven offroad.

0:20:35 > 0:20:37The journey was also suspicious in another key way. Police drove the

0:20:37 > 0:20:40route several times and found a problem with Gilroy's story.

0:20:40 > 0:20:43outbound route between Edinburgh to Lochgilphead was found to be 136.7

0:20:43 > 0:20:46miles long. Our average time over the reconstructions was two hours,

0:20:46 > 0:20:4955 minutes. CCTV analysis of the time taken by Mr Gilroy indicated

0:20:49 > 0:20:51that he took a time of five hours and eight minutes to complete the

0:20:51 > 0:20:57same route. The significant difference occurred between Tyndrum

0:20:57 > 0:21:02and Inveraray. So they knew there was missing time in a remote area,

0:21:02 > 0:21:09but another small detail emerged. Here's Gilroy on his way to Argyle.

0:21:09 > 0:21:12We can clearly see an umbrella on the parcel shelf. By the time he

0:21:12 > 0:21:15returns to Edinburgh, the umbrella is out of view. That was a

0:21:15 > 0:21:19breakthrough for detectives. umbrella on the rear of the parcel

0:21:19 > 0:21:22shelf of the car on two occasion over two days - that - that's

0:21:22 > 0:21:27something that at the blink of an eye someone saw that going past

0:21:27 > 0:21:31camera - really, really important. It showed that there was action.

0:21:31 > 0:21:35Something had happened around about the boot of that vehicle that day.

0:21:35 > 0:21:38By the time it came into the police hands, it wasn't where it was in

0:21:38 > 0:21:45the footage. That was another really crucial time for myself.

0:21:45 > 0:21:48Gilroy had been in his boot. He'd had hours to spare, and he tried to

0:21:48 > 0:21:51conceal his movements, but sightings of a silver car on May

0:21:51 > 0:21:54the 5th led investigators to believe Gilroy detoured towards the

0:21:54 > 0:21:57Rest & Be Thankful that he'd recce'd it on the way to Inveraray

0:21:57 > 0:22:07and on the way back he'd dumped Suzanne's body off a remote forest

0:22:07 > 0:22:10

0:22:10 > 0:22:13road. The rough countryside around Glenn Crowe and an area known as

0:22:13 > 0:22:16Hell's Glen was the focus of a major police search in the summer

0:22:16 > 0:22:19of 2010. We'd been searching in Glenn Crowe forest for weeks and

0:22:19 > 0:22:22weeks in order to be comfortable that we hadn't missed something. I

0:22:22 > 0:22:24made the situation to go out and look for volunteers from the

0:22:24 > 0:22:34various mountain rescue and cave rescue teams throughout Scotland

0:22:34 > 0:22:35

0:22:35 > 0:22:39and, you know, we got a fantastic response. Fine. I'd expect with the

0:22:39 > 0:22:44terrain, it's tough work. It doesn't seem as though we have

0:22:44 > 0:22:47covered much, but because of the ground, it's obviously very time-

0:22:47 > 0:22:50consuming. There was a specific purpose to my mind why we were

0:22:50 > 0:22:56searching, but we were led by members of the public and their

0:22:56 > 0:23:01sightings. The family - they were extremely pleased at the response

0:23:01 > 0:23:10that we were given from the volunteers - that meant a

0:23:10 > 0:23:14considerable amount to them. The main search was at the weekend. I

0:23:14 > 0:23:17phoned up Gary when he was at the Rest & Be Thankful and asked him to

0:23:17 > 0:23:21thank all the volunteers for giving up their weekends, but

0:23:21 > 0:23:25unfortunately, it was to no avail. I'd just like to say there's a lot

0:23:25 > 0:23:31of parents out there that'll know where their children are and where

0:23:31 > 0:23:40they'll be sleeping tonight, but unfortunately, my family doesn't

0:23:40 > 0:23:44know where Suzanne is sleeping. The search found no trace and

0:23:44 > 0:23:48exactly where he hid her body remains a mystery, but police have

0:23:48 > 0:23:52been able to reconstruct so much of his movements, the net was closing

0:23:52 > 0:23:59in on the suspect. Could you answer a couple of questions, please, Mr

0:23:59 > 0:24:02Gilroy? In Britain, we're more likely to be captured on CCTV

0:24:03 > 0:24:05surveillance cameras than anywhere else in Europe. Here is Gilroy

0:24:05 > 0:24:09arriving at Lochgilphead High School. It's almost at 4.30pm in

0:24:09 > 0:24:15the afternoon. His visit there is the cover story for his urgent

0:24:15 > 0:24:20business trip to Argyle, but that story was just another lie.

0:24:20 > 0:24:24It's now almost midnight on the day after Suzanne disappeared. David

0:24:25 > 0:24:28Gilroy's back in Edinburgh after disposing of Suzanne's body.

0:24:28 > 0:24:31Detectives have been leaving messages on his phone all day and

0:24:31 > 0:24:37he's arrived at a police station. He was questioned for the next 11

0:24:37 > 0:24:41hours. Well, as part of a sort of process of eliminating someone from

0:24:41 > 0:24:46the inquiry, I have always looked to make sure that people haven't

0:24:46 > 0:24:50shown signs of having been in a struggle, any violence, and we

0:24:50 > 0:24:55applied the same process with David Gilroy, and we noticed when he was

0:24:55 > 0:24:59in for interview that he had marks on his hands, the backs of his

0:24:59 > 0:25:03hands and his forearms. He gave an explanation that those marks had

0:25:03 > 0:25:07been the result of gardening - and a plausible enough explanation, so

0:25:07 > 0:25:11in order to record those, we asked him if he'd agree to come in and

0:25:11 > 0:25:16have those injuries photographed, and it was when he came in to get

0:25:16 > 0:25:20those injuries photographed that officers noticed that they thought

0:25:20 > 0:25:26he had a makeup-like substance on the backs of his hands, and at that

0:25:26 > 0:25:29stage that was the, you know, for me, that was the defining moment.

0:25:29 > 0:25:32Police were convinced that the unprecedented use of technology and

0:25:33 > 0:25:38hard work had proved Gilroy was the murderer.

0:25:38 > 0:25:42But would a jury agree? The key evidence you've heard tonight was

0:25:42 > 0:25:47teased out in painstaking detail. The evidence you've seen from the

0:25:47 > 0:25:51CCTV images to the mobile phones, the cadaver dogs and David Gilroy's

0:25:51 > 0:25:57car formed the heart of the prosecution case. In an unusual

0:25:57 > 0:26:00step, the jury was taken from the High Court to retrace Suzanne's

0:26:00 > 0:26:04final journey for themselves. David Gilroy accompanied them. When they

0:26:04 > 0:26:06visited the building at Thistle Street, it was the first time he'd

0:26:06 > 0:26:12been back to the premises since he killed Suzanne there two years

0:26:12 > 0:26:20before. During the trial, his wife was called by the prosecution to

0:26:20 > 0:26:23give evidence against her husband, but she chose not to testify. Every

0:26:23 > 0:26:29day Suzanne's family would get up and take the bus to court and have

0:26:29 > 0:26:34to sit in a room with the man they believed killed their daughter.

0:26:34 > 0:26:37don't know. I just felt like I wanted to be there and to support

0:26:37 > 0:26:45Suzanne because we were the only ones there that can actually

0:26:45 > 0:26:54support her now. Ultimately, you had to wait three days for a

0:26:54 > 0:26:59verdict. I think that's the worst three days of our lives. It's -

0:26:59 > 0:27:05just sitting there, you're - 15 men and women, you say to yourself, you

0:27:05 > 0:27:08know what decision the family's made, but it's a case that is - has

0:27:08 > 0:27:14the prosecution got the message across to the jury? And you just

0:27:14 > 0:27:22hope and pray that he has. Gilroy was found guilty of murder by a

0:27:22 > 0:27:26majority verdict. This day has been a long time coming, but finally,

0:27:26 > 0:27:30Suzanne has received the justice she deserved. As a family, we

0:27:30 > 0:27:34continue to struggle to come to terms with losing her. We've lost

0:27:34 > 0:27:39our daughter, but her memory lives on in everyone who knew her.

0:27:39 > 0:27:41Although the trial has ended, our ordeal goes on, and we hope that

0:27:41 > 0:27:47one day we can lay our daughter to rest.

0:27:47 > 0:27:53Thank you. Ten years ago it wouldn't have been

0:27:53 > 0:27:56possible to prosecute a case in such a way. With no body and no

0:27:56 > 0:28:01forensic evidence, it's likely her killer would have walked free, even

0:28:01 > 0:28:05if the case had made it to court, but as you've seen, we leave an

0:28:05 > 0:28:09electronic footprint wherever we go. In this case, police could catch a

0:28:09 > 0:28:16killer, but one key question remains - where is Suzanne?

0:28:16 > 0:28:20haven't recovered Suzanne's body for the family, and, you know,

0:28:21 > 0:28:24that's what this is all about, and, you know, that is - we're not

0:28:24 > 0:28:29finished until we're able to bring some sort of closure for the family,

0:28:29 > 0:28:35so there is only one person that knows where Suzanne is, and that