Falsely accused, wrongly convicted – Dollar man's murder trial

Iain Hay Gordon spent seven years locked away, having been found guilty of killing student Patricia Curran, which rocked the community of Whiteabbey, County Antrim, five miles outside of Belfast, in November, 1952.

The Clackmannanshire man was in Northern Ireland at the time, serving in the RAF, and was quickly rounded up as a suspect and charged.

And while there were considerable efforts made to prove his guilt, it became clear to many that something was not right with the case.

This week marks 70 years since the start of the trial which ultimately changed the course of the young man's life.

His tale is recounted in the book Who Killed Patricia Curran?: How a Judge, Two Clergymen and Various Policemen Conspired to Frame a Vulnerable Man, written by Irish journalist Kieran Fagan.

Hay Gordon, from Dollar, was just 20 years old at the time Patricia was killed. The student – who was the daughter of a former MP and judge – was stabbed 37 times and later discovered near her home.

Although the Royal Ulster Constabulary had done a good job in their initial investigation, two detectives were brought in from Scotland Yard.

Hay Gordon was stationed at a base near the Curran home and met the family a handful of times, but insisted he was nowhere near the crime scene that night.

Yet, he was arrested and charged two months later. Then, after days of intense questioning by detectives, a false confession was extracted from him.

According to Fagan, Hay Gordon was terrified police would reveal he was gay – homosexuality was still illegal at the time and considered a mortal sin.

The author explained that things were not quite adding up at the six-day trial, however.

He said: "Halfway through the trial it was quite clear to everybody in the court that this ineffective young man hadn't done it.

"But he had confessed.

"The prosecution and the defence – there's an RAF witness to this who was observing – they just decided that something had to be done."

The defence changed pleas and told the court Hay Gordon was not in his right mind when the murder took place.

He was found guilty, but insane, and was sent to an asylum – the other outcome would have seen him hanged.

THE CURRANS: Patrician (centre) was stabbed 37 times

While the court had made its damning determination, Fagan's research began to paint a more comprehensive picture of the young airman.

He described Hay Gordon as a vulnerable individual, someone who had a difficult childhood and who never really fit in as one of the "lads" in the RAF.

"His father [Douglas] was a mining engineer, Hay Gordon was born, actually, in Rangoon," the author continued.

"This was in the 1930s, the family were going back and forth from Dollar to India and then to Burma.

"Things were pretty bad in Burma, his father was involved in, essentially, destroying anything that might be of any use to the invading Japanese.

"He had a terrible childhood – she [the mother] went to Rangoon and left him in Dollar Academy as a boarder and he didn't get on very well so she came back around 1940 or 41 and took him with her to Burma.

"That didn't work out and they had an appalling journey back because they were afraid of being sunk by the Germans' allies."

After his conviction, Hay Gordon would go on to spend seven years in Holywell where they knew he was not guilty or insane.

The family, who lived in Dollar, campaigned to have him released and were successful in 1960.

He was said to have been quietly freed and warned to never speak about the case.

According to Fagan, the young Clacks man was told by the Home Office to change his name and that there would be a flat for him in Glasgow, along with some money and a job lined up in a warehouse.

By all accounts, he went on to live a quiet and exemplary life, but was still determined to clear his name – even if the verdict was difficult to appeal over legal technicalities.

His mother Brenda, who was a teacher, died bankrupt as a result.

However, Hay Gordon would be cleared of murder in 2000, nearly 50 years later.

Frail and ageing by the time, living in a run-down Glasgow tenement, he told The Guardian: "It turned my life upside down.

"You only pass this way once, you don't get a second bite of the cherry but I refuse to be bitter or have any feelings of vengeance towards the murdered girl's family."

He only lived for some 10 years after he cleared his name, it is understood.

And as to who actually killed Patricia – the author posits one theory in his book, although there is no way it could be proved beyond doubt.

Mr Fagan added: "I'm absolutely certain, having spent three years working on this and the Scottish journalist who was working for the Glasgow Herald, and maybe for other papers, he was convinced..."

The book is available from Amazon.