A NEW six-part documentary on one of Ayrshire’s most horrific murders is now showing on the BBC’s iPlayer.

It looks back at the infamous Limbs in the Loch case and the manhunt for the killer of Kilmarnock teenager Barry Wallace.

The 18-year-old supermarket worker had disappeared following a festive party on December 4, 1999.

Days later, his limbs were discovered in Loch Lomond by police divers as they carried out routine training.

His severed head would soon be found by a dog walker on Barassie Beach.

Over six 30-minute programmes, the documentary team speak to the Ayrshire detectives who investigated Barry’s murder – and journalists who covered the story at the time.

Retired detective John Geates (Image: BBC) The man who led the investigation, former Detective Superintendent John Geates, told the BBC: “The murder of Barry Wallace was the most shocking thing I had ever been involved in.

“I got a phone call to say there had been a human head washed up on Barassie Beach and I made my way straight there. I then walked over to where the head was. From my knowledge of pictures of him I was fairly confident that’s Barry Wallace.

“I can picture the whole scene as if it was yesterday.”

It didn’t take long for detectives to find a prime suspect for the appalling murder. Northern Irish man William Beggs had already served time for a murder on Teeside in 1987, where an attempt had been made to remove the limbs of his victim Barry Oldham.

But Beggs was freed on a legal technicality after two years – and moved to Kilmarnock.

In 1991, he was sentenced to six years in prison for attacking Brian McQuillan with a razor in his Glasgow flat.

The documentary tells how Beggs spotted a drunk Barry walking home after his festive night out and offered him a lift. But the teenager never returned home.

Beggs, then 36, is believed to have dumped Barry’s head in the sea while travelling on a ferry to Northern Ireland.

Det Supt Geates said: “We had no evidential link at that point between him and Barry.

 “We had to make a compelling case that somehow tied him to the murder of Barry Wallace and get a warrant to search his house.”

But by the time the Ayrshire police team arrived with the warrant at Beggs’ Kilmarnock home, the killer had fled.

Officers discovered an appalling scene inside the house. Blood at the scene was quickly identified as Barry’s.

For weeks, amidst a media frenzy, police sought to trace Beggs, who many suspected had fled across the Irish Sea.

But despite the furore, Det Supt Geates told the documentary: “We never lost the support of Barry’s mum and dad or his brother. I promised from day one I would never tell them a lie and I kept that promise.”

Meanwhile, the killer had made his way to the Netherlands – and handed himself in to an Amsterdam police station. He was later extradited back to Scotland.

After a trial lasting 17 days in 2001, Beggs was sentenced to serve a minimum of 20 years in prison. Since then he has lodged appeals against his conviction - and launched a number of legal cases against the prison service and others.

His many actions raised in the Scottish courts are believed to have cost more than £1 million in legal aid.

Despite recent parole hearings, it seems highly unlikely that Beggs will be released in the coming years.

You can watch Limbs in the Loch on the BBC’s iPlayer here.