Locals called the shady pathway winding between trees and bushes “Cuddles Strip” on account of its popularity with courting couples from the nearby Scottish city of Perth. Here, in the evening of Monday, AUGUST 12th, 1935, Daniel Kerrigan, 19, was out walking with his girlfriend, Marjory Fenwick, 17, when he was hit by a rifle shot fired from eight yards away in the bushes.

Suddenly a man appeared beside Marjory. She begged him to stay with Danny while she ran for help, but as she went off he pulled her down. Holding her down with one knee he gagged her and tied her hands behind her back with a handkerchief. Then he dragged her into the bushes, stripped her naked and raped her.

Dislodging the gag, Marjory screamed for help, whereupon the man tied her suspender belt over her mouth, bound her feet and left her lying in the bushes. Eventually she got free, and found a young couple to help her. She led the police back to Cuddles Strip, where they found Daniel Kerrigan dead on the path.

The trail of clues led to John M’Guigan, homeless and living in a tent, and the owner of two rifles. The most damning evidence against him was the handkerchief used to tie Marjory’s wrists. It had been stolen from a nearby manor house, and in M’Guigan’s tent police found two other items stolen from the same house. It was established that a set of fingerprints found at that robbery were those of M’Guigan.

The jury at M’Guigan’s murder trial had to decide whether the man who raped Marjory was the same man who killed her boyfriend. The problem was too much for them and they returned the peculiarly Scottish verdict of Not Proven on the murder charge. On the other charges, including rape, M’Guigan was sent to penal servitude for 10 years.