Killer Andrew Hunter was branded an “evil, cold monster” after inflicting further suffering on his late wife’s family 35 years ago.
The perverted social worker from Carnoustie made them relive the gruesome details of Lynda’s murder as he appealed his murder conviction.
Lynda’s father called Hunter a man the family detested above all else.
Small miracle.
Hunter had strangled Lynda using her dog Shep’s leash after the two had an argument in the car on the way to Lynda’s mother’s house in Glenrothes.
Lynda’s body lay among trees in Melville Lower Wood, Fife, for six months until it was found in February 1988.
During that time, he played the role of the grieving husband and continued to keep in touch with the family, apparently sharing their hope that she would show up somehow.
Hunter appealed after conviction
Hunter’s web of deception was unraveled and he was jailed for life at the High Court in Dundee in August 1988 after a jury returned a majority verdict.
Hunter claimed he was the victim of a miscarriage of justice.
The grounds for the appeal were that the prosecution had not provided sufficient evidence and that Lord Brand had misled the jury.
The appeal was expected to last two days in June 1989.
After nearly a year in prison, Hunter had aged considerably, gained weight, and his short, cropped hair was graying and thinning.
Lord Emslie, sitting next to Lord Cowie and Lord Clyde, took only a few minutes to reject the two-and-a-half-hour argument of the defence, Lionel Daiches.
He said there was insufficient evidence to prove his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
Mr Daiches said it was not enough for the prosecution to say Hunter could have committed the murder; their burden was to prove he did.
Mr Daiches also claimed the conviction should be quashed because Lord Brand misinformed the jury in the part of his indictment relating to statements Hunter made when questioned by police about his wife’s disappearance.
Hunter claimed during the trial that these statements were in no way an admission of guilt, but rather an expression of his concern that the police investigation would expose his sex life, with potentially damaging consequences for his family.
Mr Daiches submitted that immediately after Lord Brand referred to these statements he should have drawn the jury’s attention to Hunter’s explanation for them.
Hunter’s web of lies was thrown out
“We have come to the conclusion without hesitation that the evidence fully justified the jury in returning the verdict they did,” said Lord Emslie.
“The case rested on circumstantial evidence.
“In our opinion, this was not a minor case.
“We are certainly satisfied that the evidence before the jury was not only sufficient, but extensive and eloquent as to the appellant’s guilt.”
In relation to the alleged misleading of the jury, Lord Emslie said they felt the trial judge had taken “a perfectly legitimate course” during his speech.
Lord Brand pointed out to the jury that if they accepted the accused as a “credible witness” they would have a reasonable doubt about the Crown’s case.
When Hunter died prematurely in prison, many dark secrets went with him. Former journalist and author Alexander McGregor.
The appeal judges were also unconvinced by Mr Daiches’ claim that Lord Brand’s speech showed an “unfair bias” against the Crown.
Hunter winked at supporters sitting on the public benches as he was led off the dock to serve the remainder of a life sentence.
Family said Hunter was motivated by greed
Lynda’s parents welcomed the rejection of the appeal from their home in Glenrothes.
Dorothy Cairns said: “As you can imagine, we are delighted with the result.
“It’s what we expected, but the sad thing is that nothing will bring my daughter back.
“He’s just an evil, cold monster and I think life should be life.”
She told him never to come out again.
“He spent Christmas with us knowing how sad we were,” she said.
“He knew I had searched the woods where Lynda was found, and that I could have found her remains, but he did nothing.”
Lynda’s father, Robert, said Hunter was “full of greed”.
“A year before she died, he tried to persuade her to increase her insurance to £100,000.
“He tried to increase his wages, that’s all,” he said.
An elementary mistake meant the murderer’s downfall
Former Courier chief reporter Alexander McGregor wrote extensively about Hunter in his best-selling book The Law Killers.
He said it was ironic that the man who went to such great lengths to cover his tracks was convicted largely because of a basic mistake, a fact highlighted by one of the court’s judges.
“After murdering his pregnant wife Lynda and hiding her body in a Fife woodland, Hunter later drove through the night to abandon her car in Manchester as part of a carefully laid trail of red herrings,” Alexander said.
‘It was just one of the devious steps he took to establish an alibi.
“After disposing of Lynda’s body, he released the family dog Shep, who had accompanied Lynda on her supposed solo drive to visit her parents in Glenrothes.
“Before doing this, he removed the collar without allowing the beloved pet to leave the house.
“After returning home, Hunter threw the collar in a corner of the family living room, where it was later found by police.”
The dog’s collar violation was the evidence needed
The prosecution seized on this seemingly coincidental fact and used it to show that Hunter must have been in the car with Lynda when she and Shep disappeared.
He said: ‘While most involved in the case had little doubt as to Hunter’s guilt, there was not an abundance of evidence of the kind needed to secure a conviction.
“The misstep with the dog collar caused it.
‘During the brief hearing at the Court of Appeal, when Hunter’s pleas for release were swiftly rejected, Lord Cowie pointed out that there were possible alternative explanations for other key points of the Crown case.
“But there was nothing to explain the collar’s presence in Hunter’s home.
“Hunter had to have put it there, positively linking it to Lynda’s fateful journey.
“In the end, it was that blunder that convicted him and ensured that his appeal was unceremoniously rejected.”
Murderer Andrew Hunter took his secrets to the grave
Hunter died of a heart attack in Perth Prison on July 19, 1993.
Alexander is convinced that the full extent of Hunter’s horrific acts will never be known.
“He was described by the judge as a man of exceptional depravity,” he said.
“It was an appropriate comment.
“When Hunter died prematurely in prison, a lot of dark secrets went with him.”
Alexander said Hunter’s death took away Lynda’s family’s sense that she and their late daughter had received real justice for her.
“In a sense it was the final insult after a very stressful period for her parents and other family members,” he said.
“They conducted themselves with great dignity and strength throughout and few would deny that they deserved Hunter to pay the full price for his appalling actions.”