THE case of one of Scotland's most infamous murders is to be re-examined in the light of new evidence which may suggest a miscarriage of justice.

Scottish Secretary Michael Forsyth yesterday said the case of former policeman and Royal Marine Archibald Hall, now aged 42, would be referred back to the Court of Appeal.

Hall was jailed for life in February 1988 after he was convicted of the murder of 18-year-old Lorna Porter in Bellshill in September 1984. An appeal was dismissed in 1989.

Hall's lawyer, Mr Michael McSherry, said he would be asking for Hall's release pending an appeal hearing later this year.

''This is wonderful news. Mr Hall has protested his innocence from the start. If our petition for release is accepted, he could be freed next week,'' he said.

During the trial, the jury of eight women and seven men heard how Hall spent five years in the Royal Marines before completing five years of service with the police until his resignation a few months before the murder.

The court heard how he came to know Miss Porter after she became friendly with his wife's brother, Mr Thomas Donnelly, who shared a home with the couple in Bellshill.

When Mr Donnelly moved to Drumchapel, Miss Porter continued to visit every Sunday but would stop off at the Halls' home because of her friendship with Mrs Hall.

On the night she died, Miss Porter had spent the day with Mr Donnelly, writing out invitations for their forthcoming engagement party before he saw her on to a train to Bells-hill at 9.30pm.

The teenager, who would then usually catch a bus to Holytown, never arrived and her badly mutilated body was discovered by three schoolboys in an alleyway near Bellshill Station at noon the next day.

It took police three years to build up a case against Hall, who was said to have confessed initially in 1985 but when he later denied it, the Crown Office decided not to proceed.

The breakthrough came two years later when Mr George McAvoy came forward, claiming to have seen a couple fitting the description of Hall and Miss Porter arguing in Hall's garden.

Defence lawyers are now understood to have obtained a statement from Mr McAvoy's brother which would suggest he was a mile away at the time and could not have witnessed any argument in Hall's garden.