Peter Tobin stands accused of the abduction and murder of the 15-year-old Falkirk schoolgirl in 1991 and of attempting to evade justice by covering his tracks, charges he denies.

Continuing his evidence today, Alan Murray identified photographs taken by him at the end of last year.

He was shown a number of images of evidence bags and boxes and the labels associated with them. He also identified photos of their contents, which included a number of green and black bin liners.

There were also photographs of two lengths of material, one of them described as a curtain.

Mr Murray had also photographed a white coloured sweatshirt, described as being the outermost item of clothing on a body part, and a red polo shirt with a Le Shark label described as the innermost item of clothing on a body part.

Cross-examined by defence QC Donald Findlay, Mr Murray agreed that Bathgate sits on the M8 motorway, which provides access to routes leading to all parts of the country.

Mr Murray agreed a map of Bathgate shown to the jury centred on Bathgate Cross and the address in Robertson Avenue. That was by no means the whole of the town.

Mr Murray said the Robertson Avenue address was about a mile from The Cross.

He agreed that within a one-mile radius of The Cross there was a considerable population with a large number of dwellings and industrial premises.

In addition, there were a number of towns lying close to Bathgate, he agreed. Driving just 10 minutes in any direction would take you to a large number of addresses, Mr Murray accepted.

The witness said he had photographed the town centre area of Bathgate in the early part of this year.

He accepted that he didn’t have a clue what it looked like in 1991.

Mr Findlay then moved on to photographs taken in the loft of Robertson Avenue. Mr Murray identified photographs that he had taken which showed, as Mr Findlay described it, a lot of “stuff” lying around.

These included a bag of what appeared to be lagging, three bell jars and a silver pole.

These were at the gable end of the loft about four or five feet beyond boarding that was acting as temporary flooring.

Mr Murray accepted that the items appeared to have been specifically placed there.

He was then asked to look at photographs of the loft taken by a colleague some time later.

They showed that the pole and bell jars had not been removed from the loft, but were in a different position.

Mr Murray agreed it was not normal practice to place items in a different location.

Mr Findlay put it to Mr Murray that the jury now knew that in the area where a knife was said to have been photographed some items had been removed and some moved. Mr Murray agreed that was the case.

Asked if somebody had been in that area, “fiddling around with things”, Mr Murray replied, “Items have been moved.”

Re-examined by Mr Mulholland, Mr Murray said that his colleague’s photographs were taken almost a month after he was at the house.

The house was still occupied when he took his own photographs, he told the jury.

He was not aware of a knife in the loft at that point and had taken his photographs prior to the search.

The back garden of a terraced house in Margate, which was the subject of a forensic excavation, was also shown in a series of photographs to jurors today.

Detective Constable Alan Benett (45), a scenes of crime officer with the Scientific Support Department of Essex Police, based in Chelmsford, said he was asked to go to the house at 50 Irvine Drive, Margate on November 12 last year.

Jurors were then shown a series of shots of an average-looking south coast terraced garden accessed by a narrow lane at the rear of the property.

Through a gate into the garden, there was a large shed to the left, a smaller one to the right with grass towards fencing and a patio area at the back of the house.

The officer told the court he also photographed the front of the house, which was paved in parts with small stones around the paving.

He identified an area beside a garden ornament and near the smaller of the two sheds where the excavation was started.

Specialists with ground penetrating radar had searched the garden prior to his arrival.

DC Benett told the court that forensic archaeologists, scenes of crime officers and police officers were involved in the excavation.

Solicitor General Frank Mulholland QC again repeated his warning that images which were to follow may cause distress to the public and if they thought it was likely they would suffer distress, he invited them to leave.

He told the court some would “show contents of plastic bags in which a body was contained”.

At that point, defence counsel Donald Findlay QC said he wished to raise legal matters which would require to be done outwith the presence of the jury.

The trial continues.

Tobin denies that on February 10, 1991, at a number of locations in Bathgate, he abducted, compelled or otherwise induced Vicky Hamilton, to accompany him to his home in Bathgate and there, or elsewhere in Scotland, assaulted her, drugged her, struggled with her, compressed or otherwise injured her neck, indecently assaulted her and murdered her.

He also denies that between February 10, 1991 and December 15 the same year, at his home in Bathgate, at St Andrew’s Square in Edinburgh, at an address in Margate and elsewhere in the UK he attempted to defeat the ends of justice.

That charge alleges he concealed Vicky’s body; removed and disposed of items of clothing and footwear and other of her belongings; that, knowing a missing person enquiry was underway he deposited a purse belonging to Vicky under a portable building with intent to mislead police into believing she had run away from home, bisected her body with knives and similar instruments and bound and wrapped her body in coverings and bin bags; disposed of and concealed the knives; and that he concealed, transported and buried her body parts.

Tobin has lodged a special defence of alibi that between 5pm and midnight on February 10, when the crime was committed, he was in the Portsmouth area and then travelling from Southern England to Scotland and did not return to Edinburgh before 6.30am on February 11.

The trial before Judge Lord Emslie and a jury is being prosecuted by Solicitor General Frank Mulholland QC and the defence team is headed by Donald Findlay QC.