A killer's compulsion undimmed by time

McIntosh showed no emotion at either of his life sentencing court appearances

Sitting in a courtroom with Robbie McIntosh for the first time in almost 16 years, I was struck by how little had changed.

Sobs from the public seats from those whose lives he had changed forever, the packed press area hanging onto the judge's every word.

At its centre, a disinterested figure flanked by security officers.

Then, a child - now, a man, but with the compulsion to kill undimmed by the preceding decade-and-a-half.

This time however, Robbie McIntosh's victim, surrounded by her family and despite the horror inflicted on her, could watch as justice was served.

• Killer on home leave jailed for murder bid

McIntosh's non-reaction to a sentence that will most likely see him die in jail matched that of his demeanour in 2002 at the High Court in Forfar for the murder of Anne Nicoll.

Save for a brief sideways glance at reporters, the now bearded and shaven-headed McIntosh, showed all the emotion of someone reading a shopping list or checking his email.

McIntosh murdered Anne Nicoll on Dundee Law in August 2001, when he was 15-years-old

His seeming outer calm was at odds with the brutality of his actions in Templeton Woods last August and on Dundee Law in August 2001.

McIntosh was given leave on 2 August last year, the 16th anniversary of the murder.

Whether he would have struck on that day if he had had the chance we do not know.

Sitting in the newsroom five days later it was evident something significant had happened.

Templeton Woods was in lockdown. The police were cagey, something was different about this major operation.

Sources soon revealed why - and it was not long before it was Dundee's worst-kept secret about who was in custody for the brutal attack on dog walker Linda McDonald.

There was rage in the city.

Templeton Woods was sealed off following McIntosh's attack on Linda McDonald last August

McIntosh's murder of Anne Nicoll in 2001 had shocked Dundee.

A 15-year-old boy had carried out a frenzied attack on a female dog walker in a secluded area.

She had been stabbed 29 times and had her head stamped on by McIntosh.

He was caught after telling two shop workers there had been a murder on the Law, something only the killer could have known.

Without the intervention of two passing brothers last August, McIntosh would have faced a second murder charge for an almost identical offence.

The question was asked again and again in the days that followed: "How could this have happened?"

The search for the answer to that question is under way.

But McIntosh's rage, hidden away for 16 years before resurfacing at the first opportunity, is back where it belongs, behind bars, this time maybe forever.