Britain’s leading forensic pathologist has criticised Scottish police and prosecutors over their failure to treat the fatal stabbing of a Fife man in July 2007 as homicide.
Dr Nat Cary, who has worked on cases such as the Soham child murders of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman in 2002, believes a single stab wound was not consistent with Colin Marr, 23, taking his own life.
In a report for Carr’s family, who are still seeking justice, Cary says the case “is and always was a homicide until satisfactorily proven otherwise”. The veteran pathologist takes a swipe at Scottish law enforcement, adding: “It is disappointing that the direction of further inquiries appears to have been more about shoring up a position that it was not a homicide, rather than considering it from a neutral position.”
Marr, who worked as a mortgage adviser, was described as a “loveable and sociable young man” by his mother, Margaret. His fatal stab wound went through the sternum and into his heart and he was found on the living room floor, with a kitchen knife beside him.
Dr Cary’s report says: “To achieve penetration would have required severe force. Removal may also have required significant force because of a pinching effect when bone is penetrated.
Advertisement
“The pathological findings are not typical of self-infliction in that there are no tentative wounds.”
Marr died at the home in Lochgelly he shared with fiancée, Candice Bonar, now 38, a mother-of-two, and living in Australia, having emigrated with her parents in 2008.
She told the police that the couple argued after she accused him of infidelity and that Marr stabbed himself because she was leaving him. Bonar returned to Scotland to give evidence to a fatal accident inquiry (FAI) in 2011.
Asked if she had killed Marr, she said she had not, and has always stood by that position. At the FAI sheriff Alastair Dunlop was unable to decide whether Marr had been murdered or had killed himself, leaving his family with many unanswered questions. Among the family’s ongoing concerns is the lack of any investigation into claims that a third person was present at the scene.
A neighbour who lived upstairs said she heard three raised adult voices, and others, including a police sergeant, spoke of seeing a tall man just outside the flat who detectives never tried to identify or eliminate.
Advertisement
Last year, Marr’s mother and stepfather, Margaret and Stuart Graham, presented Police Scotland with evidence via long-neglected witness statements about the potential presence of a third party.
Graham said last night: “One of these witnesses was a police sergeant and they didn’t even take a further statement from him to try to establish who he saw.”
A small team of Police Scotland detectives led by DCI Brian Geddes is currently investigating allegations made by the Grahams of corruption in the criminal justice system.
This was provoked by efforts to persuade them that the fatal wound might not have gone through bone, which would have made suicide more plausible, but this contradicted the evidence of several eminent forensic pathologists.
Graham said: “Not for the first time, we get independent expert input that clearly points to homicide and, significantly, rules out the alleged position of the wound the police and Crown tried to push at us despite the evidence at the FAI.”
Advertisement
The Grahams have declined invitations to further meetings with the Crown Office, demanding new officials be introduced.
Graham added: “We have asked for fresh input and explained our position that we do not want to meet again with people we believe tried to mislead us. The Crown wants those involved in holding this untenable position to maintain leadership and ownership of Colin’s case. This is not acceptable. We fear Colin will never have justice.”
DCI Geddes, of Police Scotland’s Major Investigation Team, said: “Our sympathies remain with Colin’s family. Material they provided in April 2021 was passed on to prosecutors and we continue to support the Crown Office as required.”
A Crown Office spokesman said: “In 2021 the Lord Advocate identified areas for further enquiries based on information provided by Mr and Mrs Graham. All available evidence is now being considered by prosecutors and a final decision will be taken by Crown Counsel with no previous involvement in the case.”