Edinburgh crime: The murder of Elaine Collie who was killed by John Reid in her Muirhouse flat in 1999

Elaine Collie was murdered in her Edinburgh home in 1999, in a case that shocked the city

Warning, some readers may find the contents of this article distressing.

Twenty-four years ago, the Capital was rocked by the news that a 46-year-old woman had been sexually assaulted, tortured and murdered in her own home.

The body of Elaine Collie was discovered in her Muirhouse View flat after concerned neighbours who hadn’t seen her for days raised the alarm. Little did they know that it was another neighbour, John Reid, who was responsible for her brutal murder.

Elaine Collie was murdered in Edinburgh – and now the case is the subject of a TV documentary

The case, which shook the Capital for years following her death, was featured in a Sky Crime documentary, which looked at the forensic evidence which helped the police solve the case.

What happened to Elaine Collie?

Elaine Collie was living in the Muirhouse area of Edinburgh when, in April 1999, she was murdered by her neighbour, John Reid. Reid conned her way into her house before hitting her on the head with a weapon and tying her to the bed. He gagged her with a towel before sexually assaulting her. He then proceeded to torture her with electric shocks from a blanket before ending her life by suffocating her.

Before killing Elaine, Reid had forced her to reveal the PIN to her bank card, and subsequently took £350 out of her account. He also made off with jewellery that he had taken from her home.

Police investigation

Officers investigating Elaine’s death arrested and later charged John Reid with her murder. He pleaded guilty to the crime at the High Court in Edinburgh but claimed that he had been drunk during the attack and said he felt remorse for his actions.

At his sentencing, Lord Cameron said: “You used deliberate and calculated violence on a decent, unsuspecting woman, one who was your neighbour and must have received you into her house in good faith.” Reid was sentenced to life in prison, with a recommendation that he serve at least 15 years due to the ‘barbarity’ of the attack.

Past offences, parole and family campaign

From 2014 onwards, Reid was coming up for parole hearings every two years - which is a requirement by law. Elaine’s family worked hard to campaign for parole reform, having said that they believed the original sentence was too lenient. Her brother Fred Collie and his son Jason worked hard to carry out their own investigation into his past offences. They compiled a detailed report that contained statements from a number of previous victims, and included analysis from clinical psychologists.

Reid allegedly attacked women in 1975, 1985 and 1986. He served prison time for the first and last offence, though the incident in 1985, where he allegedly lured a 14-year-old girl back to his house and forced her to undress at knife point, was never taken to court. An alleged assault of a man in 1987 also never made it to trial. The family believe that this information shows a pattern of escalating violence, and this should have been taken into account when he was sentenced. This report was sent to the parole board every two years.

Elaine’s nephew Jason spoke to the Edinburgh Evening News from his home in New Zealand back in 2021. He said: “When you see what’s gone on in the background with this offender, he is basically wasting the Parole Board’s time and it’s clear to see he won’t be ready for another four or five years.”

He added that he wanted the Scottish Government to give the Parole Board the ability to extend the parole review period from two years to three, adding: “This would give victims a welcome two year break between hearings and in cases with extremely violent and dangerous offenders such as Reid, it is not unreasonable. In a case like ours, we get a one year respite before psyching ourselves up for it again. Your mind starts to move to it again and you start reliving the whole thing.”

Reid’s death

Reid died in prison in August 2021, after having served 22 years in prison for the brutal murder of Elaine.

Speaking to the Evening News, Jason said that he had found out the news from his father, who had been contacted by the Victim Notification Scheme. He said: “For us it’s relief that it’s over, and relief that he was never free to be a threat to anyone else. That’s what we were always worried about.

“Having uncovered his past and the times he managed to effectively evade justice, this was a very dangerous man. Unfortunately, Elaine was his victim but we did not want there to be any others.”

When he was asked if the family felt Reid could have ever been rehabilitated, Jason said: “It’s very difficult to make an informed judgement but we had been told he had not done a lot of the sexual offender programmes during his time in prison, and from what we know about his past, we never thought he would be safe to be released.

“We would imagine that many of his other victims would be relieved because they will never face the prospect of bumping into him, so that gives them some closure.”

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