No one seemed to know anything about John Wilson. No one saw him die, he had no relatives and few if any friends. At 55, unemployed, unmarried and living in a men’s hostel, life couldn’t have held out much hope for him.

Wilson was found murdered with severe facial injuries in dimly-lit Morrison Street, Edinburgh on Wednesday, November 16th, 1960. He was last seen leaving a pub in Lothian Road at 9.40 p.m.