Body of Proof

An Audible Original

De: Darrell Brown, Sophie Ellis

Narrado por: Darrell Brown, Sophie Ellis

A woman disappears on her way to work. A man is convicted of her murder.

But this case is different. Though the police believe they have the right man, key components of the prosecution case are missing. There is no body of the victim, no witnesses to the crime, no confession and no physical evidence: no DNA, CCTV or murder weapon.

Journalists and TV producers Darrell Brown and Sophie Ellis examine the extraordinary case of Suzanne Pilley, a woman who vanished whilst on her way to work in Edinburgh in 2010. The pair has spent two years investigating the case and speaking exclusively to David Gilroy - the man who was found guilty of killing Suzanne and disposing of her body. He is currently serving a life sentence in a Scottish jail.

But Gilroy says he is innocent: victim of a miscarriage of justice.

Darrell and Sophie are not so sure. They explore Gilroy’s claims that the investigation and trial were mishandled, that key pieces of evidence were not presented in court and witnesses were not contacted.

The pair uncover startling information, not heard in court, that might have changed the minds of the jury. And they shine a light on aspects of the Scottish criminal justice system that might be keeping an innocent man behind bars.

A What’s the Story Films production for Audible.

©2019 Audible, Ltd (P)2019 Audible, Ltd

Compelling and well done

The overall story leaves so many questions about judicial systems all over the world. Amazing how this man is convicted without any forensic evidence except he is unlikeable and was having an affair.

First Audible Original I've tried and liked.

Author decided to revisit a murder conviction where there was absolutely no conclusive forensic evidence presented whatsoever. At the trial, the prosecution relied solely on implication via circumstantial evidence. Difficult to see how this meets the Reasonable Doubt level required?

I hadn't realized until now that unlike the rest of the Western world, Scotland requires a simple majority for a criminal conviction! Also uniquely, they have a third verdict of Not Proven, which seemed a total no-brainer in this case to me, but I suppose some jurors just did not want to see the defendant walk away on what they saw as a technicality.

My take away from this was that he was quite ill-served by his defense team. When the author's challenged the defendant regarding the prosecution's allegations of events, he sounded plausible enough to me in his refutations.

There were one or two places where I kind of wish they'd got on with it, finding those somewhat digressions, but overall I'm really glad that I listened.

The thoroughness of the reporters’ investigation.

I especially liked the reporter’s professional, yet sensitive, approach to the controversial, emotional, and complex crime.

You may have a time deciding guilt or innocent

I thought the book played both sides very well, but the narrators glossed over information that heavily proved his guilt through circumstances. I think the book was good because on the first listen I would flip flip about my feelings. After more life experience and a second listen, I'm disappointed how they downplayed the circumstances that logically, and in a human sense, proved, to me, his guilt, even without physical evidence.

A documentary of crime

A documentary style of writing.

At times the narrator's heavy accent for different characters was hard to understand.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.