The bustling seaport of Freemantle lies 19km south-west of Perth where the Swan River meets the Indian Ocean and its historic heritage is clear for all to see.

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On the West coast, Perth lies at the center of its vast natural gas and iron ore fields that are supplying China with much of the raw material for its factories.

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The Inverness to Aberdeen line was badly affected, Perth to Inverness services were cancelled until midday and the West Highland line was closed between Crianlarich Forth William.

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Virgin has also added more flights to Perth and smaller towns in the country's resource-rich west, where thousands of people fly each week from other parts of the country to work on mines.

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Using the newspaper collection at the AK Bell Library in Perth and the series of trial papers held at the National Archives of Scotland's West Register House, Mr Paton says that what he discovered was a "sorry picture of an investigation that was simply incapable of bringing the perpetrator to justice".

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