Sickening murder of Dr Brenda Page whose killer Christopher Harrisson was ensnared by a speck of paint 45 years later
SHE was a brilliant scientist who performed groundbreaking genetic work that would help future generations solve murder cases.
But when Dr. Brenda Page was beaten to death in her own home in Aberdeen, DNA the evidence was still in its infancy – and no one was arrested for the crime.
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In the days after her death, it emerged that the 32-year-old was working part-time as an escort.
More importantly, during her lab work she had been researching the safety risks of working offshore – at a time when the oil boom had just hit.
Steeped in secrets, sex and scandal, the riddle is the subject of Scots Sun podcast Murder in the Granite City – casts a long shadow Aberdeen.
But as the new BBC documentary Murder Trial: The Killing of Dr. Brenda Page recalls, 45 years after Brenda's battered body was found on the floor of her apartment, justice was finally served.
After the case was reopened in 2015, new DNA techniques helped convict her ex-husband, Christopher Harrisson, of murder. And in March last year he was sentenced to twenty years behind bars.
After the verdict, Brenda's still heartbroken sister Rita Ling told The Sun she was glad justice had been done – but it brings her no comfort.
The 89-year-old from Ipswich said: “I don't feel I have made peace just because there has been a conviction.
“You can't change things – that would be the only thing that would ever bring me peace.”
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Brilliant scientist
Dr. Brenda Page, originally from Ipswich, graduated from the University of London and in 1972 took a job as head of the genetics department at the University of Aberdeen, where she led a team conducting groundbreaking research.
The same year she married biochemist Harrisson from Gloucester, and the couple shared a house in Aberdeen's opulent West End.
But their relationship ended due to allegations of abuse and a divorce was granted in 1977.
Brenda moved into her own flat and tried to cut ties with her volatile ex, known as Kit, against whom she had a restraining order.
On July 13, 1978, she left her college laboratory and headed to dinner with two wealthy businessmen at a city hotel. It later turned out that they were escort clients.
At that time, Aberdeen was teeming with businessmen, many of them Americans, who attended events and were happy to pay for a female companion as a guest.
She drove home around 2:30 a.m., but her killer was lurking.
If I'm ever found dead and it looks like suicide, don't believe it
Brenda Page
Brenda was subjected to a violent and frenzied attack with a blunt instrument, probably a chisel.
Meanwhile, a damaged window suggested the property had been broken into, but nothing was stolen.
When she didn't show up for work the next day, colleagues began to worry about their diligent colleague.
They went to her house and, let in by a neighbor, found her bloody body.
It later emerged that in the days leading up to her death she was “terrified” and living in fear for her life.
She told friends: “If I'm ever found dead and it looks like suicide, don't believe it.”
Our chart topping podcast
THE Murder In The Granite City podcast covers all the twists and turns of the brutal murder of Dr Brenda Page, which became one of Scotland's longest running unsolved cases.
Narrator Ruth Warrander, an award-winning Scottish Sun journalist, released the first episode of her quest for the truth in 2020.
But shortly after the second installment was released in March 2020, police made their first arrest in 42 years.
In the series, which regularly tops the charts on podcast platforms, Ruth speaks with the scientist's grieving friends and family, as well as former colleagues, police officers and DNA specialists to uncover previously unheard details about the fascinating case.
Check it out now, wherever you get your podcasts.
New hope for cold case
Despite a major investigation and Harrisson's arrest, police were unable to unravel the mystery surrounding Brenda's murder. The business closed after two years, devastating her family.
The decades passed, but new hope came in 2015 when it was announced that the cold case would be reopened, with DNA innovation now helping to solve other high-profile crimes.
And it was these new techniques that would help police convict convicts Harrison, who was arrested in 2020.
During his trial last year, the court heard how a paint chip found on Brenda's bedroom window, which had been broken out, matched that on Harrisson's Mini Traveler car.
And one DNA sample from her flat was said to be 590 million times more likely to have come from Harrisson than anyone else.
Witnesses also gave evidence about the domestic violence she suffered at his hands.
But it was Brenda, from beyond the grave, who was the strongest witness of all.
I find him quite repulsive. He was so arrogant. He said it was all her fault
Dr. Brenda's sister Rita
Chilling letters she had written, including one in which she begged her lawyer for a post-mortem if she died suddenly, were read out in court.
Harrisson, 82, denied being physically violent and said Brenda “began making up stories” to secure a divorce.
But he was found guilty and sentenced to 20 years in prison, meaning he will likely die behind bars.
Sister Rita, a retired teacher, said: “I find him quite disgusting. He was so arrogant. He said it was all her fault.
'But the fact that he ultimately did not appeal the conviction and sentence speaks volumes.
“I don't like feeling so vengeful, there is a lot of anger and bitterness.
“I've spent a lot of my life wishing I could wake up and realize it was all a nightmare, to go right back to the way things were, to have my wonderful sister back.”
'Life just isn't fair sometimes'
With Harrison incarcerated, Brenda's friends and family now have a chance to remember her for the smart, beautiful woman she was.
School friend Diane Davey, 77, a retired pharmacy technician from Ipswich, said: “Brenda was someone who was extremely smart but also wonderfully kind.
“She was so talented in all areas.
“I just wonder what it would have been like if we could have remained friends for the past 45 years and also wonder what she would be like now.
“It's something terrible that I will never forget. I was just lucky to have her as a friend.
“I'm grateful that justice has finally been done, but he's had 45 years of freedom, right? Life just isn't fair sometimes.”
Meanwhile, friend and colleague Jessie Watt, 72, a retired geneticist from Aberdeenshire who now lives in Spain, said: “Brenda was my colleague, my role model, my friend.
“She launched my career in an exciting new subject.
“I rose to the top of that career in cytogenetics – Brenda should have gotten there before me.
“Her life was cut short by her jealous, controlling ex-husband. I felt for her family all those years.
“I am so relieved that Kit is behind bars and justice has been served – finally.”
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Rita, who visits her sister's grave at St Andrew's Church in Ipswich every month to lay flowers, added: 'I still remember the sound of her voice and her laugh.
“When I close my eyes, I can imagine her being in the middle of the room.
“It still feels like yesterday since I saw her, and little things trigger me.
“The other day I was watching Wimbledon and suddenly I caught a glimpse of someone sitting in the crowd who was the spitting image of Brenda.
“For an awful minute I thought, 'Oh, there's Brenda.'
“I hadn't felt that in a long time.
“I sat there for a while and thought about her.
“Now of course she would be an old lady, not a young girl with long hair.”
Murder Trial: The Killing of Dr Brenda Page airs tonight and tomorrow at 9pm on BBC Two
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