A FORMER paratrooper was jailed for life for the second time yesterday for the murder of a mother-of-two during Hogmanay celebrations.
Duncan Edwards was originally found guilty of murdering Linda Anderson in Edinburgh in May 1999, but earlier this year his conviction was quashed by the appeal court because of a misdirection to the jury by the trial judge. The Crown was authorised to bring a re-trial in the case.
Despite Edwards, 32, of Old Meldrum Road, Newmachar, in Aberdeenshire, denying the murder, a second jury convicted him by a majority verdict at the High Court in Edinburgh.
Afterwards the victim's former husband, Kenneth Anderson, 48, said: ''I am very happy that justice has at last been done. I couldn't believe it when he got a re-trial for a misdirection. It was a genuine concern that he was going to walk away from it this time.''
The couple had married in 1972 when Linda was 18, but separated in 1996.
Mrs Anderson, a former police clerkess, had gone to Edwards's then flat in Home Street, Edinburgh on New Year's Eve to meet up with her boyfriend. In the early hours of January 1, 1999 she was kicked and stamped in the fatal attack. Her semi-naked body was found in the basement of the block of flats. She died in hospital the next day.
She was found to have 78 injuries including a fractured skull, and a broken bone in her throat.
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