The delay in tracking down the Moylans Furniture staff might have been as simple as it being the Sunday morning when the body and card were discovered. The police were very alert in tracking down the taxi driver, to their credit, but maybe it took till the Monday and the shop opened until they could establish who carried advertising cards. But like you, I feel there is something more as to why McInnes was of interest.
As to why McInnes was apparently eliminated from the enquiry in 1969 we simply do not know. It's a real puzzle since 25 years later the Scottish legal system went to great lengths to try and connect him to the same crime. Exhuming bodies is very correctly a last gasp type of justice and usually avoided. So we can be confident that it was the DNA link that authorised the exhumation rather than advertising cards or missing documents in police files.
So why did McInnes walk from police custody back in 1969? I would like to know more about the testimony of his fellow workers, Murphy and Smith. Did the three go as a group to the Barrowland after their afternoon sales pitch (I am guessing that McInnes was in attendance), or have a casual arrangement to meet up? Did they alibi McInnes to the effect that all three left the Barrowland having failed to 'pull a bird' and confirm McInnes boarding a bus back to Stonehouse? Did they admit to handing out a few of their cards in the course of the evening to impress the local 'talent.'
We don't know who Helen Puttock danced with that evening. Yes, she picked up an interested party in BJ, but who was she dancing with beforehand? She must have been there for at least two hours before leaving from what I can deduce. Women will go up and dance with a friend if no one is showing any interest, then on the dance floor have a brief jig with some guy and sometimes that's the end of it. Maybe she got a card from one of the Moylans' group who simply couldn't remember her when questioned. Maybe she danced with McInnes briefly, he was eliminated by police as a suspect, and the decision was made to keep his name out of it due to family connections.
As to why McInnes was apparently eliminated from the enquiry in 1969 we simply do not know. It's a real puzzle since 25 years later the Scottish legal system went to great lengths to try and connect him to the same crime. Exhuming bodies is very correctly a last gasp type of justice and usually avoided. So we can be confident that it was the DNA link that authorised the exhumation rather than advertising cards or missing documents in police files.
So why did McInnes walk from police custody back in 1969? I would like to know more about the testimony of his fellow workers, Murphy and Smith. Did the three go as a group to the Barrowland after their afternoon sales pitch (I am guessing that McInnes was in attendance), or have a casual arrangement to meet up? Did they alibi McInnes to the effect that all three left the Barrowland having failed to 'pull a bird' and confirm McInnes boarding a bus back to Stonehouse? Did they admit to handing out a few of their cards in the course of the evening to impress the local 'talent.'
We don't know who Helen Puttock danced with that evening. Yes, she picked up an interested party in BJ, but who was she dancing with beforehand? She must have been there for at least two hours before leaving from what I can deduce. Women will go up and dance with a friend if no one is showing any interest, then on the dance floor have a brief jig with some guy and sometimes that's the end of it. Maybe she got a card from one of the Moylans' group who simply couldn't remember her when questioned. Maybe she danced with McInnes briefly, he was eliminated by police as a suspect, and the decision was made to keep his name out of it due to family connections.
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