While a mighty memorial dedicated to the brave men who fell in the Great War dominates the summit of Dundee’s landmark Law Hill, a smaller yet no less poignant memorial is to be found hidden away in woodland just below the summit.
Occupying a tiny grassy clearing just off one of the 572-foot high hill’s popular footpaths, the carved granite stone marks the spot where a local woman was brutally murdered while out walking her dog. It is a reminder of one family’s tragedy and an horrific crime that shocked the city two decades ago.
On the evening of August 2, 2001, 34-year-old civil servant Anne Nicoll was walking her Airedale terrier Sophie on the hill when she encountered 15-year-old Robbie McIntosh, who had been on the Law smoking cannabis with a friend.
In a savage but senseless attack McIntosh stabbed Miss Nicoll 29 time before stamping on her face. Medical experts later reported that one of the initial knife wounds damaged her voice box, rendering her unable to shout or scream for help. Leaving his victim for dead, McIntosh snuck off through the trees, returning to his home in nearby Kenmore Terrace, on the western flank of the hill, where he showered and changed his clothes before later meeting up with friends in a local fish and chip shop.
In the meantime Miss Nicoll’s partner, concerned that she had not returned home, set off to investigate and, after finding the dog wandering aimlessly around, discovered his girlfriend’s battered and bloodied but lifeless body lying in the trees. The police were called and their investigations led them to McIntosh, who witnesses confirmed had talked of the murder while in the fish and chip shop, revealing details only known to the police and Miss Nicoll’s partner at that stage.
McIntosh was arrested and while he tried to pin the blame on a friend, DNA evidence linked him to the crime. Blood stains were found on a cap and sock belonging to him, although the murder weapon, a boning knife, was never found.
After an 11-day long trial at the High Court in Forfar, McIntosh, who had turned 16 by this point, was convicted by a jury of Anne Nicoll’s murder by a majority verdict. He was sentenced by Lord Bonomy to be detained without limit of time but told he must serve a minimum of 15 years. McIntosh, who did not give evidence at his trial, subsequently appealed the verdict but this was rejected.
However his crimes did not end there. On the 16th anniversary of Miss Nicoll’s murder – August 2, 2017 – McIntosh was let out of jail on home leave. Just days later he struck again.
This time he attacked a woman in Templeton Woods, on the northern outskirts of the city. Linda McDonald was walking her dog through the forest on August 7 when McIntosh pounced, dragging her from the path into the trees, battering her with a dumbbell and fracturing her skull in two places.
Other dog walkers heard her screams and, when they intervened, doubtless saving her life, McIntosh ran off. He was later apprehended and, at the High Court in Aberdeen, he was convicted of the attack and given a lifelong restriction order which will most likely see him spend the rest of his life behind bars.
Anne Nicoll’s memorial, which features an image of her dog Sophie, can be found adjacent to the footpath which runs south from Law Crescent around the wooded upper slopes of the hill, skirting the top of the West Law allotments, to meet the Law Steps path at the foot of the steps leading to the summit.
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