George Murdoch: Family offer £10,000 reward to help police find 'cheese wire' killer in Aberdeen

A £10,000 reward has been offered to help detectives investigating one of Scotland’s most notorious unsolved murders.

The family of Aberdeen taxi driver George Murdoch hopes the money will encourage people to come forward and offer DNA swabs to find possible family ties.

Mr Murdoch was violently attacked with a cheese wire while on his way to pick up his last fare of the night in Aberdeen more than 40 years ago.

Officers have identified 200 people who could have a genetic link to a DNA profile from the scene.

Police Scotland said those identified are not suspects but hope the DNA breakthrough will help their hunt for the murderer.

A statement posted on a Facebook page set up by those campaigning for justice over the murder said: “In some families, dark secrets may lie buried for many years. The killer may only have told one who was very close to him.

“It is possible that this secret was known only to them and never shared with others. Hence why this new form of familial DNA testing can be so useful in tracking killers, no matter how many years may have passed.”

It added: “By offering this £10,000 reward sum, our hope is that it might act as an incentive and encourage everyone to comply.”

Mr Murdoch was attacked on the evening of September 29 in 1983 after telling his control room he was heading to Culter.

He turned on to Pitfodels Station Road, on the outskirts of Aberdeen near the Deeside railway line, where he was attacked at around 8.45pm and later died.

There have been no arrests in connection with the murder of Mr Murdoch and police continue to appeal for information, with Police Scotland’s Major Investigation Team continuing to investigate the case.

Following a public appeal in 2022, detectives are still seeking information to identify a man who was seen wearing an Iron Maiden T-shirt in Wilson’s Sports Bar in Market Street in Aberdeen in 2015.

Police Scotland can be contacted via 101 or emailed through their dedicated inbox at SCDHOLMESAberdeen@scotland.pnn.police.uk.