In 2002 on the streets of Holland, the now convicted killer husband of an Ipswich academic was confronted and asked "Did you kill her?".
Justice has been a long time coming for the family of Dr Brenda Page who was murdered in 1978 in Scotland.
From Ipswich, they watched proceedings via video link as her ex-husband Christopher Harrisson, now a frail man of 82, was finally jailed in March.
Dr Brenda Page was a remarkable woman in many ways. A former Northgate School pupil and a brilliant scientist, she conducted significant research to prevent deformities in babies, working in the genetics department at the University of Aberdeen Medical School.
She was also a much-longed-for younger sister.
However, Brenda’s life was cut short by violence at just 32. Her body was discovered on a blood-soaked bed by an elderly neighbour in the Aberdeen flat where she lived alone, on July 14, 1978.
Harrisson was the only suspect. He was arrested the day Brenda’s body was found but was released without charge.
The only other person to confront him directly was a 22-year-old journalist who had followed him to Holland.
Isla Traquair was making a documentary series ‘Unsolved’ for the Scottish channel STV when she came face to face with Harrisson in 2002.
“My adrenaline was through the roof,” remembered Ms Traquair. “We were chasing him along a waterway.”
“You could see him getting angrier and angrier. He actually batted away the boom mic at one point.
“I managed to ask him important questions. Obviously, I had to ask, ‘Did you kill her?’
“But I also said, ‘Why have you not contacted the police once, in the 25 years since you wife, this woman who you loved so much, was killed?’
“Surely, if you’re innocent, you should want to help us find out who did do it?”
Harrisson remained silent – but their paths would cross again.
He was arrested for Brenda’s murder in 2020, and the case finally went to court in Aberdeen in 2022. Ms Traquair was in attendance.
“I saw him look at me, and he did a double take,” she said.
"For this blonde, 20-something to appear in Holland, when nobody had approached him for 25 years by that point, I’m sure I would have stuck out in his mind.”
Knowing the significance of this case, Ms Traquair asked for permission to record the full trial, to be released on her podcast, The Storyteller: Naked Villainy.
This is the first time in UK history that members of the public are privy to a murder trial in full.
For 33 episodes, the podcast hears Brenda’s friends and family take to the stand, and finally Harrisson herself.
Among them is Brenda’s sister, Rita Ling, now almost 90 and from Ipswich. In the podcast, she tells Ms Traquair how her sister had changed the parting of her hair to disguise an angry red mark on her forehead, the result of Harrisson throwing a book at her.
“No one gets an easy ride in court, whether you’re a victim or an eyewitness or a loved one,” said Ms Traquair. “If someone doesn’t believe what you are saying, you will be asked over and over again, even to the point of them accusing you of being a liar.”
However, despite their age, these were some of the “most impressive” witnesses she had ever heard.
Now in their 70s and 80s, academics, doctors and professors will be heard giving evidence as new episodes of the podcast are released.
However, Ms Traquair said that the loudest voice and the strongest witness in the whole trial was Brenda herself.
“It was her words being repeated by other people, her words being read out from letters and her eloquence in expressing her violent marriage and the abuse she suffered.
“Without Brenda, without her words, he would not have been found guilty.”
When the verdict arrived, Ms Traquair said she broke down in tears. Having followed this case for so many years and endured her own stalking hell, to see justice dealt after 45 years was bittersweet.
“The issues that are key in this case are domestic abuse, coercive control, and stalking. Basically, violence against women,” she said.
“Forty-five years on, there are some improvements - but not anyway near enough."
To listen to Ms Traquair's podcast, search The Storyteller: Naked Villainy on Spotify.
Do you remember Dr Brenda Page? If so, contact abygail.fossett@newsquest.co.uk
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