Detectives have closed the file on the death of a baby in a Dundee tenement 45 years ago after concluding he was not murdered.
The inquiry into the death of six-week-old Colin Blair in October 1968 was sensationally reopened in 2011 after new information was passed on to police.
He was the son of Kenneth Blair, then a 24-year-old juteworks labourer who was jailed for 15 years in 2011 after admitting carrying out a reign of terror against a woman, and raping a child.
He was never spoken to by police during the inquiry into his son’s death but they did interview as many as 200 former police officers and emergency workers who covered Stobswell in 1968.
The inquiry became complicated by the passage of time and the fact the Blairs’ home where six-week-old Colin died on Arbroath Road, near Glebelands Primary School, has since been demolished.
A medical examination at the time concluded the cause of death was inhalation of vomit and intercranial haemorrhage, and the episode was filed as an unexplained tragedy.
A police inquiry was reopened into the circumstances surrounding Colin’s death but it “failed to establish criminality”.
Detective Chief Inspector Ali Reid said: “The circumstances were fully reviewed and the review couldn’t establish that there was any criminality.
“It was a very comprehensive review and it’s difficult in cases like this after such a passage of time.
“The investigation was concluded and no criminality was established and the matter was not taken further at that time. A report was sent to procurator fiscal.”
Colin is buried in an unmarked grave in Eastern Cemetery. There had previously been speculation his body would be exhumed as part of the inquiry, but this did not happen. Mr Reid said any further information would still be taken into account and could reopen police inquiries, but as things stand there is no criminality.
Colin was born in Maryfield Hospital and his birth notice described his mother, who was a housewife, and him as “both well”.
Kenneth Blair, now 68, later moved to Fife and then on to England. Two years ago, he pleaded guilty to a catalogue of violent and sexual abuse, including rape and attempted rape, between 1967 and 1986.