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MORE than 32 years have passed since cabbie George Murdoch was found dying in a pool of blood beside his taxi with a cheesewire garotte lying nearby.

But his family are as determined as ever to find his brutal killer – dead or alive.

One relative said: “Since George was murdered, it’s as if this guy has been invisible. It’s like he dropped in there, committed this terrible act and then disappeared.

“We’ve all known from the start that there’s a very good chance the guy has himself passed.

“But it would bring ultimate closure to find out his name – or at least something about him.”

Four of George’s close family have repeated their offer of a £10,000 reward for information that brings the killer to justice.

George, 58, known to family and friends as Dod, was savagely strangled on the outskirts of Aberdeen on the evening of September 29, 1983.

Police believe the killer took his life for no better reason than to steal the few pounds he had in his cab.

It was late shopping Thursday at the height of the North Sea oil boom and the city was busy.

George dropped off a hire in the west end of the city – just as staff at the posh New Marcliffe Hotel were throwing a scruffy-looking man out because he had jeans on.

Soon after, a man hailed George’s cab outside the hotel. George set off out of the city with his passenger, telling his control room at 8.35pm: “I’ve picked up a fare for Culter.”

A group of teenagers on Queen’s Road in Aberdeen watched George drive away. One of the lads had his arm in a sling.

Culter is on the banks of the River Dee, about six miles from Aberdeen. George never got there.

He turned off into Pitfodels Station Road, just out of the city, and stopped.

Two passing teenagers on the way home saw a struggle between George and his attacker. They got to a phone and called the police.

A passer-by then found George lying beside his sky-blue taxi. The car was spattered with blood. The witness used George’s radio to call for help, but it was too late.

A police dog handler was first at the scene. He arrived to find George lying in the road and both nearside doors of the taxi open.

George was unconscious but breathing and the officer radioed for help. But years later, he revealed: “During the time I was waiting, the man died. I was holding him.”

Minutes after the teenagers reported the fight, a couple saw a man running 200 yards from the scene.

He fitted the description of the individual who had been thrown out of the Marcliffe – 20 to 30, slim and about 5ft 7in, with short, dark, smartly cut hair. He wore dark clothes, possibly including a jersey.

Five minutes later, the man was seen again, still running towards the city and apparently in a blind panic.

Then a man matching the description walked into a chip shop in Aberdeen’s Great Western Road, a mile from the spot where George had just been killed.

The man was sweaty and dishevelled, as if he had just been running. His cheek and nose were scratched, his eye was bruised and his right hand was bleeding from cuts to the thumb and first three fingers.

The chip shop sighting added more detail to the description of the suspect. The man was wearing a black leather zip-up jacket and dark trousers with narrow bottoms – and he had a local accent.

George’s relative said: “From what I read in the papers at the time, I’d be inclined to lean towards the killer being the guy who was refused drink at the hotel and was then seen getting into Dod’s taxi.

“But I’m just amazed that nobody has come forward with any other information. It was such a horrendous crime, and so unusualfor the city.”

The family remain completely in the dark about the man whose senseless violence blighted their lives all those years ago. They’ve never had any indication from the police that the killer was known to them – or that he has since died himself.

The relative said: “Nobody has ever said that to me, not even the detectives.

“We have assumed there’s a very good chance that could be the case – or that he’s moved away.

“If we knew for certain, then we’d know that whoever told us had knowledge of who the killer was.”

She added: “If the police had a strong suspect but couldn’t prove it, we as a family would all still

like to know.

“We don’t have to know the name. If the police just said they were 90 per cent sure – I don’t even have to know who it is, or where they are living now.

“Just to know that the police have an idea – but at the moment, that doesn’t seem to be the case.

“I guess it’s something we’ll never know for certain.

“For me personally, yes, it would be nice to get closure.

“But it’s the injustice that drives me. It’s knowing that somebody has actually got away with murder.

“I’m sure he’s not the first, but he’s the first that has touched our family. And that just doesn’t sit right.”

George’s family don’t just want closure for themselves. They also want to honour the memory of

his brother Jim, who died in 2003 without ever getting justice.

Before he passed away, Jim recorded an interview for a Grampian TV documentary to urge the public to finally give the police the help they needed to catch the killer.

He said: “I want whoever is caught to suffer now.

“If they had been caught at the time, they would have been out of jail three years ago. If they are caught now, hopefully they’ll be in prison until they die.

“There must be someone who knows.”