By Graham Grant A former soldier was yesterday found guilty of murdering a schoolgirl nearly 30 years ago in Scotland’s first ‘cold case’ conviction. Bus driver John Docherty strangled Elaine Doyle yards from her home as she returned from a disco in 1986, and lived a normal life until police reinvestigating the crime knocked on his door two years ago. Technological advances meant DNA recovered from the 16-year-old’s body was linked to Docherty, who still lived in Greenock, Renfrewshire, less than a mile from the lane where the murder happened. Bus driver John Docherty (left) strangled Elaine Doyle (right) yards from her home as she returned from a disco
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Bus driver John Docherty strangled Elaine Doyle yards from her home
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DNA recovered from the 16-year-old’s body was linked to Docherty
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Elaine’s mother Maureen spoke of her family’s 28-year ‘nightmare’
It was later found the chances of the DNA belonging to anyone other than @placeholder, 49, were around one billion to one.