Suzanne Pilley murder: Judges reject David Gilroy plea for CCTV access

THE KILLER of Edinburgh bookkeeper Suzanne Pilley has lost a court bid to access CCTV evidence which he claimed would prove his innocence.

David Gilroy at Edinburgh Court of Session on Wednesday. Picture: Lesley Donald

David Gilroy, who was refused legal aid, represented himself at the Court of Session in Edinburgh in a bid to overturn a decision by the Scottish information Commissioner.

Gilroy, 52, wanted a list of camera locations from which the police gathered evidence during the inquiry into 38-year-old Ms Pilley’s disappearance.

But judges refused his appeal and found that the Chief Constable of Police Scotland was entitled to withhold the information because it was personal data.

Gilroy told the court on Wednesday: “The higher principle to me is I am not guilty of a crime. I need to obtain information that helps me to achieve the end goal of having a conviction quashed.”

He said he was seeking information on locations that covered the “entirety of the investigation”.

“It is those locations I am after because they are of material benefit to me. They do not concern my movements,” he said.

The Lord President, Lord Carloway, said that at the root of the appeal was “a broad contention from the appellant” that there existed CCTV images which could undermine his conviction.

Refusing the appeal, he said: “What these images might show is not at all clear.”

The judges also awarded the expenses of the hearing to the commissioner and chief constable. Gilroy, was jailed for life and ordered to serve a minimum of 18 years after he was found guilty of murdering Ms Pilley after she disappeared in Edinburgh in 2010. Her body has never been found.

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