Closing Speeches Focus on DNA in Eleanor Whitelaw Murder Trial

A prosecutor has urged a jury to convict Robert Buczek of murdering an 85-year-old woman in her own home in Edinburgh on the grounds of DNA and evidence from a neighbour of the victim. Alex Prentice QC told a jury at the High Court in Glasgow that the killing of Eleanor Whitelaw was a theft which went wrong and Buczek grabbed scissors lying in the hallway and attacked her. He was making his closing speech at the trial of 24-year-old Robert Buczek who denies murdering Mrs Whitelaw at her home in Morningside Grove, on July 11, last year. Mr Prentice told the jury that Buczek DNA was found in the house and he was seen running away by a neighbour who identified him to police. Defence QC Brian McConnachie told the jury that DNA was "not the golden ticket' which solved crimes as shown on television and films. Mr McConnachie said : "The finding of DNA in a place is not evidence the person was ever there." He described the Crown case as: "Like a cable which is flawed and with the slightest pull flaws will appear." The defence QC accused the Crown of focussing on the DNA that suited them and ignoring DNA that didn't. He went on: "There was the DNA of an unknown man on the inner right thigh of this 85-year-old woman when she was examined in hospital on July 11, 2014." The trial before judge Lord Matthews continues.