Man jailed for murdering Dr Brenda Page in Aberdeen dies

A man jailed for life for murdering his ex-wife in Aberdeen in the 1970s has died, the Scottish Prison Service has confirmed.

Christopher Harrisson, 85, was found guilty of murdering Brenda Page at her flat in the city’s Allan Street in July 1978 following a trial in 2023.

He had denied killing the 32-year-old genetics expert in 1978, a year after they had divorced.

The then 82-year-old was convicted by a majority verdict at the High Court in Aberdeen on March 9, 2023.

The SPS confirmed HMP Grampian prisoner Harrisson died on Saturday.

A spokesperson said: “Every death, whether in prison custody or in our communities, is a tragedy for all those who knew and supported the individual.

“Following the death of someone in our care, Police Scotland are advised, and the matter reported to the Procurator Fiscal. Fatal Accident Inquiries are held in due course.”

What happened to Brenda Page?

Brenda had been the principal of the genetics department at the University of Aberdeen before her death in 1978.

Originally from East Anglia, she moved to the city in 1973 with her then husband Christopher ‘Kit’ Harrisson.

Following their divorce, Dr Page lived alone with her three cats on Allan Street, a quiet residential road not far from the city centre.

She left work on Thursday, July 13, 1978, to go home in preparation for an evening out.

In the early hours of the following morning – Friday, July 14 – Dr Page left the Treetops Hotel in Aberdeen after enjoying a meal and some drinks to travel home. She was dining with two men. A second woman was supposed to have joined them but she never arrived.

Following dinner, Brenda stayed chatting with the two men until 2.30am in the morning. One of them offered her a lift home but she declined and made the short drive back to her flat alone.

Her failure to arrive at work the next day immediately raised concerns among her colleagues. One colleague, unable to get a reply, alerted one of Brenda’s neighbours, who discovered her body in the bedroom.

She had been badly beaten about the head in what police described as a sustained attack.

Brenda Page, then 32, was found dead at her flat in the city’s Allan Street in 1978. STV News

Harrisson had been apprehended in the hours after the murder but it was decided there was insufficient evidence to take him to court at the time.

In 2015, 37 years after Dr Page’s death, the case was re-investigated following ongoing reviews over the previous decades.

At the High Court in Aberdeen on March 9, 2023, judge Lord Richardson sentenced Harrisson to life with a minimum period of 20 years before he would be eligible for parole.

The judge said Harrisson, who has no previous convictions, had carried out a “premeditated” attack after stalking Ms Page.

He said it was a “sustained and vicious” attack.

Dr Page was laid to rest beside her mother in Ipswich.