He thought that he was getting in to a cab!
There could barely have been a more desolate, soulless place to die that night.

A lonely, dirt track in the middle of nowhere, the blackness of the night punctuated only by snow flurries whipped up by bitter winds.

No one would choose to wander that bleak and barren ground in the dead of a freezing night - unless they had evil on their mind. And for the unholy trinity of Kevin Leslie, 24, Colin Cowie, 22, and Shaun Paton, 20, windswept Elrick Hill was the perfect place to dispose of their prey - quiet, rural and secluded.

Though just on the outskirts of the city, it was a million miles away from the bright lights of the cosy dockside pubs where their victim, Dean Jamieson, had spent his final hours.

He had had a good night out, by all accounts. Perhaps a little too good.

His over-indulgence had seen him either turned away or thrown out of various pubs during a marathon drinking session.

It began about 1.30pm on April 3 when he was dropped off by his wife, Carol.

He had almost £120 in his pocket. Wearing a grey Bench hooded jacket, a black T-shirt, blue jeans and trainers, he headed for the area's bars.

By 10.16pm he was walking along Regent Quay, in the direction of Commerce Street, very drunk.

Soon afterwards he flagged down unofficial cabbie Colin Cowie. That was the moment his fate was sealed, as he got into the silver Vauxhall Astra and struck a deal to be taken home to Kemnay for £30.

In the front passenger seat was Kevin Leslie, also known as Mark Russell, described as Cowie's brother-in-law. He got out to accommodate Mr Jamieson and squeezed into the back alongside Colin Stewart, who turned Queen's Evidence and was acquitted of the murder, and Cowie's cousin Philip Eddie, 19.

Cowie, had been paid £50 to drive Mr Stewart and Leslie around Aberdeen and had been told to head for the red light area where prostitutes might want some drugs.

Mr Jamieson was close to that area when Leslie apparently told Cowie to stop, telling him he might make some money by giving him a lift home.

It was never clear why Mr Jamieson stuck his hand out when Cowie's car came along.

However, he climbed in, identifying himself as "Deano", and chatted as the car headed along the beach, through Seaton and towards Northfield. At about 10.30pm, they dropped off Philip Eddie at his aunt Maria Stout's house in Cummings Park and then collected Shaun Paton from his home at number 118 Cummings Park Drive.

What precisely happened after that is cloaked in confusion. Claim, counter-claim and concocted alibis all muddied the waters in court.

According to Philip Eddie, Cowie, Leslie and Mr Stewart, returned to his aunt's an hour later.

Mr Stewart claimed in court they had driven to Howes Road, Bucksburn, where the victim's pockets were rifled through and Paton produced a knife.

Mr Jamieson, who was drunk, was said to have been unworried at this stage.

However a decision was made to drive out along the Lang Stracht, towards Kingswells and then onto narrow country roads.

They ended up at Four Hills Walks at Elrick Hill, where a dirt track leads to a small car park and a dead end.

Conflicting accounts of who inflicted which wounds punctuated the trial. But what is known is that, once he arrived at Four Hills Walk, he was stripped at knifepoint and his boxer shorts, jeans, jacket, socks and trainers removed.

His underpants were torn in three and found scattered along with his broken dentures.

All he was left wearing were his black long-sleeved La Mota All Stars T-shirt and a black vest.

He was bleeding profusely from three deep cuts to the back of his head, one so brutally inflicted it chipped a piece of his skull.

He also had a large X mark on his right flank and a series of cuts on his leg.

One witness claimed Russell wanted to take a fillet from his side as a trophy and said he had demonstrated how he allegedly sawed at his victim's thigh with a knife.

In the undergrowth, thick with gorse, Mr Jamieson may have tried to crawl or scramble away on his knees.

But with the blood loss weakening him and his body exposed to the freezing night, his life began to ebb away.

Long, long after his tormentors had fled, leaving him to mercy of the elements, he was found huddled beside a barbed wire fence.

A man out walking discovered his body about 2.30pm on Tuesday, April 4.

A murder hunt was launched.

The net closed and after a 27-day High Court trial Leslie and Cowie were found guilty of murder and Paton of culpable homicide.

The deadly trio will learn their fate at the High Court in Edinburgh on Tuesday, December 19.
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