A MAN who said he looked at "thousands of girls" as he cruised the streets of Greenock admitted murdered teenager Elaine Doyle may have been one of them.
A trial has heard that in the weeks before her death, more than 27 years ago, Elaine told friends about a blue car trailing her.
At that time - in June 1986 - 19-year-old Donald McKirdy was a clerical assistant with Strathclyde Police who wore his dark brown hair in a fashionable collar-length perm.
He also liked to borrow the silver- blue Vauxhall Nova driven by his dad, a retired police officer.
Giving evidence at the High Court in Edinburgh yesterday, Mr McKirdy, 47, said he would spend evenings cruising round the streets.
He denied he was a kerb-crawler, as described in a police statement of the time, in which he told officers he was looking for "a lumber".
And he said it was possible he was the man following Elaine Doyle.
Mr McKirdy's name is on a list of 41 possible suspects put together by defence lawyers.
He denied in court that he had killed the 16-year-old.
John Docherty, 49, of Dunoon, denies murder and claims that at the time he is alleged to have stripped and strangled Elaine Doyle, 16, he was at home with his parents, who are no longer alive.
The trial continues on Tuesday.
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