Woman was alive, murder trial told

Jan 22 2013

A man accused of murdering a missing businesswoman claimed she was still alive when he last saw her, a court has heard.

David Parker, 37, has denied any involvement in the killing of Lynda Spence, 27, who disappeared in April 2011, but said she was held and assaulted at his flat.

He and three others, Colin Coats, 42, Philip Wade, 42, and Paul Smith, 47, are accused of abducting the woman from a street in Glasgow before taking her to a flat in West Kilbride, Ayrshire, where they are alleged to have tortured and murdered her.

At the High Court in Glasgow, the jury heard a police interview with Parker during which he told officers he was offered £1,500 for the use of his flat in Meadowfoot Road, West Kilbride, where someone was to be "questioned". He said he agreed to the arrangement after being approached by Smith.

Parker, who was a heroin user, told police the situation "snowballed" after Coats and someone he called Philip brought Ms Spence to the property, where they are said to have tied her to a chair and burned her with an iron and cigarettes and later cut off her thumb.

He said he was kept downstairs in the living room, but saw some of her injuries when he went up to offer her cigarettes and feed her lentil soup and sugary tea. She was bound to a chair with tape around her torso and arms and over her mouth, he said.

During the interview on October 31, 2011 at Saltcoats police station, he told detectives Ms Spence was alive when he last saw her.

Parker, Smith, who is from Largs, Ayrshire, Wade, from Glengarnock, Ayrshire, and Coats, from Glasgow, are alleged to have forced Ms Spence into a car on April 14, 2011 and held her hostage in a flat for up to a fortnight.

The men are also accused of crushing the woman's toes, severing her finger and hitting her with a hammer and a golf club, in an apparent bid to extract financial information from her.

Prosecutors allege the men cut off Ms Spence's head and attempted to cover up their crimes by bleaching floors, pulling up carpets and laying new floorboards. They have denied all the charges against them.