The time the Bain washing machine took to go through it's cycle came up in the Karam/Laws debate.

Karam has argued that the washing machine could have completed it's cycle quicker than the time it took in the tests the Police had carried out.

In the debate Karam said that the prosecution's own witness said that the time the cycle took could have been quicker than the time of the test result.

I cannot find any record of this.

The Police carried out time tests relating to both the normal and special cycles.The normal cycle took 61 min 11s and 59 min 54s [two tests were carried out], and the special cycle took between 61 and 62 minutes.

When the Police arrived the machine was set at the normal cycle.

Now Karam reckoned the tests were carried out when the water pressure was low,and this would have slowed the time taken to fill the machine.He maintained a different result would have been achieved if the testing had been done at an earlier hour when water pressure was at it's greatest.So the Police re-interviewed the serviceman. He said the Bain machine took 14-15 minutes to fill, whereas the norm was 5-7 minutes. He also said that in the Bain case the filling time may have been due to the corrosion in the pipes between the washing machine and the street connection, rather than the pressure of the water.He said the highest water pressure would generally be when people were not using showers,etc.,but reiterated that in the Bain case the filling time may have been dictated by the state of the pipes rather than the water pressure.He did not think there would be a significant variation in filling at different times on different days.

Now Denise Laney saw David Bain at 6.45am [Karam was to suggest even a little later, but I firmly believe 6.45 is about right]. Bain then has to go inside, hang up his paper bag, etc., go downstairs and wash his hands, sort the washing into coloureds and whites,and then turn the washing machine on. Let's say that all took him about 4-5 minutes. So he starts the machine up at around 6.50am. The Police were in the laundry area at around 7.30am, 40 minutes later. 

Bain himself said the cycle usually took between 45 minutes and an hour. If he is telling the truth, then the time of the cycle may have been affected by water pressure. But it is hardly likely that there would be a variation of 15 minutes in a cycle due to water pressure,going by what the repairman said.So it would appear that David Bain may have realised that he would need to say 45 minutes to an hour because he had not been home for longer than 45 minutes by the time the police were in the vicinity of the washing machine.

So the way I see it, there is no way Bain could have done the washing when he came home from his paper round.