Crow Gets Beak In At Peter Tobin Trial

Only one story in town today and it's no surprise that the culmination of the Vicky Hamilton murder trial is hogging the news pages. Fortunately serial sex killers like Peter Tobin are still relatively rare and its right that when vermin like Tobin are brought to justice that the full horror of their twisted past is brought to light.

But watching the telly coverage last night and listening to the statement read by Vicky's sister, Lindsay Brown, on the steps of the High Court in Dundee I detected a distinct journalistic twist to her words.

My hunch proved correct when I got hold of my big pal and Scottish Daily Mail number two Alan Crow. Big Crow has worked hard this past year penning a book on the tragic murder and hunt for Vicky with her older sister Sharon Brown.

And he gave the hack pack covering the case a surprise by turning up at court on the last day of the trial - although I suspect many of the young team didn't have a clue who he was.

He claims he was followed about all day by two or three reporters and it brought back memories of when we were both covering a triple murder in Granton years ago (him for the Daily Record, me for the Edinburgh Evening News).

I will happily concede I muscled in on his action and a share of the collect pics of the victims by standing back from the pack and tailing him. He was astounded when I hit the same relative's door minutes after he was sitting down to raid the family album and of course at the time I would never reveal how I tracked down the relative and was so close behind him.

Anway, the book "Taken - The Agonising True Story of My Missing Sister" is expected to be published in January and I am told (by him) that it's a cracking read. I for one will be buying it, if only for the fact that Sharon Hamilton takes top billing on the front cover and Crow is relegated to inside - surely the first time he has ever been a support act on a byline?