THE mystery surrounding the death of a nursery nurse still remains after a taxi driver was acquitted of her murder.

Vincent Simpson, 61, greeted a jury's majority not guilty verdict with "thank you very much" before being shown out through a side door of the High Court in Edinburgh.

It means Elizabeth McCabe's last hours remain a mystery more than 27 years after her naked body was found dumped in Templeton Woods outside Dundee.

Detective Inspector Alastair Reid, who had quizzed Simpson about the murder, said: "Elizabeth's family are understandably disappointed at today's verdict."

The verdict means doubt has been thrown on the value of DNA evidence in "historic prosecutions".

The Crown pinned their hopes on DNA tests and claimed the chances of DNA evidence coming from anyone other than Simpson was 1: 40,000,000.

But Mark Stewart QC, said the DNA "match" was caused by contamination and said evidence had been carelessly stored in Dundee's police HQ.

Elizabeth's Mum, Anne, 67, and her family had been at the court almost every day for the last seven weeks.

Trainee nursery nurse Elizabeth, of Lochee, Dundee, left home to enjoy a night out with friends at Teazer's disco in the city before she disappeared.

Vincent Simpson, then of Newtyle, near Dundee, ran a private hire taxi firm from his home and was first to be questioned by police after Elizabeth's body was found.

A quarter of a century later he was charged and his trial finally began on October 26 this year.

Father-of-three Simpson, now of 75 Longlands Way, Camberley, Surrey, denied murdering Elizabeth by hitting her on the head and strangling her.

His defence team produced an alibi for the night Elizabeth disappeared. They also claimed detectives had ignored 13 other suspects in a shoddy and mishandled inquiry.