World's End killer Angus Sinclair died 'bedbound and alone'

World’s End killer Angus Sinclair died alone in his cell, incontinent and bedbound, a court was told.

Sinclair, 73, suffered deteriorating health for about 18 months prior to his death last year following a series of strokes and transient ischaemic attacks, an inquiry at Stirling Sheriff Court heard.

He was serving a life sentence with a Scottish record minimum term of 37 years for the murder of Christine Eadie and Helen Scott, both 17, in Edinburgh.

Karon Rollo, fiscal depute at the Scottish Fatalities Investigation Unit, said the fatal accident inquiry was a mandatory one because Sinclair had died at Glenochil Prison, Clackmannanshire.

An STV News special report on Sinclair will be broadcast at 7.30pm on Thursday.

Ms Rollo told the court that for a year before he died, Sinclair required “assistance with personal hygiene and dressing”.

She said: “He had an increased frequency of falls, decreased dietary and fluid intake, increased episodes of incontinence, and a DNA CPR (do not attempt cardiopulmonary resuscitation notice) was in place.

“For the last five days of his life he was “unable to mobilise”, was confined to bed, and was cared for by prison medical and nursing staff. He was last seen alive by nursing staff at about 1.40am on March 11, 2019, locked in his cell in the jail’s Abercrombie wing.

Ms Rollo said: “At 3.50am the same day he was checked by nursing staff and found not to be breathing.”

Sinclair was pronounced dead around half an hour later.

Ms Rollo said: “Cause of death was certified as bronchopneumonia, ischaemic heart disease and cerebrovascular disease.”

The court heard earlier that Sinclair’s next of kin were aware of the inquiry but had opted not to attend or participate, and no criticism of his care at the hands of either the Scottish Prison Service or the NHS had been made.

Sinclair’s victims were last seen alive leaving The World’s End pub in Edinburgh more than 40 years ago.

The sentence, in 2014, the longest ever imposed by a Scottish court, meant Sinclair would have been 106 years old before he was eligible for parole.

He was convicted of four killings, including the World’s End murders, but was suspected of killing four more women in Glasgow the same year.

An STV News special report on Angus Sinclair will be broadcast on Scotland Tonight on Thursday at 7.30pm. It will ask how many lives Sinclair claimed and also examines claims he was “Scotland’s luckiest serial killer” – emboldened by the conviction of other men for murders he allegedly committed.