True Crime Collection

Suzanne Pilley

Suzanne Pilley was a 38 year old British bookkeeper from Edinburgh, Scotland, who went missing on the morning of 4th May 2010. 

On 4th May 2010, Suzanne Pilley was making her way to the offices of Infrastructure Managers Ltd in Thistle Street, Edinburgh, where she worked as a bookkeeper. As part of her routine, she would often call into the St Andrew Square branch of Sainsbury's on the way to work. At 8:51am she was seen on CCTV leaving Sainsbury's . At 8:54am she was seen on CCTV on North St David Street, about to turn into Thistle Street. This was to be the last public sighting of her; she failed to turn up for work. 

On the afternoon of 4th May 2010 she was reported missing to Lothian and Borders Police by her parents Robert and Sylvia Pilley. 

On 11th May 2010, the police started a high profile public appeal for information using screens erected in the centre of Edinburgh, playing footage of Suzanne's last known whereabouts. They issued a statement saying that they believed she might have been the victim of a 'criminal act'. 

On 18th May 2010, Suzanne's employers issued a statement that her disappearance 'was completely out of character'. The following day, police issued a statement saying that they were now treating the enquiry as a murder investigation. 

On 20th May 2010, it was reported in the press that police had expanded their investigation to a 400 square mile area of Argyll, stretching from Tyndrum to Inveraray and the Argyll Forest. It was said that they were keen to trace the movements of a silver vehicle driven by a man on remote roads across Argyll and Bute on the afternoon of 5th May 2010. 

On 23rd June 2010, David Gilroy, a colleague and former boyfriend of Suzanne's, was detained by Lothian and Borders Police under section 14 of the Criminal Procedure Act 1995 in connection with her disappearance. Later that day he was arrested and charged with her murder. 

On 24th June 2010, David appeared on petition, in private at Edinburgh Sheriff Court, charged with the murder of Suzanne Pilley and various other offences relating to her disappearance. He made no plea or declaration. A petition for bail was lodged and granted by Sheriff Deirdre MacNeill QC. On 1st July, 2010, David appeared on petition, in private at Edinburgh Sheriff Court for judicial examination. Thereafter he was fully committed for trial. A second petition for bail was lodged and granted by Sheriff Nigel Morrison QC. 

On 20th February 2012 the trial of David Gilroy began at the High Court of Justiciary, sitting in Court 11 at Edinburgh Sheriff Court. The presiding judge was Lord Bracadale. The prosecution was led by advocate depute Alex Prentice QC, and the defence by Jack Davidson QC. David Gilroy's solicitor was Jim Wardlaw. 

The indictment ran to 5 pages. The principal charges libelled were that: 

On 4th May 2010, David killed Suzanne at the offices of Infrastructure Managers Ltd, in Thistle Street, Edinburgh, or elsewhere, by means of the prosecutor unknown. 

David concealed Suzanne's corpse in the Thistle Street premises of Infrastructure Managers Ltd, transported it to Argyll in the boot of a car, and various locations around Scotland, and thereafter disposed of it by means of the prosecutor unknown. 

The jury of eight men and seven women began hearing evidence on the afternoon of 20th February 2012. The trial lasted 24 days. 

The first witness for the Crown was Suzanne Pilley's mother, Sylvia Pilley. She spoke to the fact that her daughter had had a 'turbulent on off relationship' with David Gilroy, and that she had previously cohabited with him on a temporary basis. 

On 23rd February 2012, the advocate depute led evidence from a Lothian and Borders Police constable who told the court that they had enlisted the help of specially trained cadaver dogs from South Yorkshire Police to search the offices where David Gilroy and Suzanne Pilley worked. The dogs were specially trained to smell for blood and human remains. The court was told that the dogs, springer spaniels, had identified three areas of interest; one in the basement area of the offices, and two in the boot of David Gilroy's silver Vauxhall Vectra.