By Steven Bell and David Clegg

THE MAN accused—and subsequently cleared—of the murder of Elizabeth McCabe last night revealed he is considering legal action against Tayside Police.

During a dramatic trial at the High Court last month, jurors heard that Vincent Simpson believed he had been targeted by officers looking to clear up the Templeton Woods murder.

Now the former taxi driver, from Camberley in Surrey, has told The Courier he has sought legal advice about suing the force that led the inquiry.

His solicitor George Donnelly confirmed, “Mr Simpson has instructed us to look at the possibility of a successful action being raised against Tayside Police and others.”

It is not clear who those “others” are. It’s understood that a decision—following discussions with counsel—will be made in the next few weeks.

The body of nursery nurse Elizabeth McCabe was found at Templeton Woods on the outskirts of Dundee on the eve of her 21st birthday in February 1980.

Mr Simpson, who was then running a taxi business with his wife in Newtyle, was questioned by police at the time, but was only arrested in 2005 when the inquiry was reopened by Tayside officers.

After an eight-week trial in Edinburgh, a jury found Simpson not guilty by a majority. The decision was said to have left Elizabeth’s mum Anne and the rest of her family disappointed.

Police have since said they are not pursuing any current lines of inquiry in connection with the crime.

“I’m not bitter, I’m just sad,” said Mr Simpson. “People went down a certain line and did not come up with the goods, and at the end of it all the person that’s left sitting there is Mrs McCabe.

“I feel for that woman, and in fact I asked my solicitor if there was any way we could contact her to let her know that I felt for her.

“Seeing that woman was unbelievable. When the verdict was handed down I wanted to punch the air with my fists, but I turned and saw her and I couldn’t.

“The whole thing stank from start to finish and I could have celebrated and let my emotions run away with me, but I didn’t for the sake of Mrs McCabe.”

Now back at his home in Camberley, he admitted the arrest and subsequent trial had impacted on him and his family.

“It was a strain, and I think I could now be sitting in a cell but for the excellent detective work by my legal team, George Donnelly, Mark Stewart and Ashley Edwards—things police should have done back then.”

Mr Simpson added, “But I’m happy. I’ve got a lovely house, with good neighbours, a nice garden, squirrels running about at the back and I’ve no intention of moving.

“My wife Gilly is fine too, she has got no problems even though the police came down here and were making claims that I was violent, that I was stupid, all that stuff.

“They were going round saying things like that to my friends and relatives, asking if I beat my wife up. All I can say is—what a load of crap.

“I walk with my head held high, and so do my wife and family, though I know my son was following the trial on the web and it was hard for him.”

He said he believed he had been “sold down the Swanee” by Tayside Police, and criticised the DNA techniques used to present evidence at the trial.

He also believed the trial would not even had gone ahead if it had been scheduled after the Omagh bombing case which led to the suspension of low copy number DNA testing.

“That would have been disappointing,” he said. “I had total faith in my defence team and that I would be found innocent. The whole thing was a sorry state of affairs.”

A spokesperson for Tayside Police said, “We have received no correspondence from Mr Simpson or his representatives, so it would be in- appropriate to comment.”