Murder accused 'chopped up man'

Jan 31 2013

A man accused of murdering a missing businesswoman told a friend he Tasered someone in the chest and then chopped and bagged them up, a court has heard.

Mark Asbury, 47, claimed Philip Wade told him that "some scouser" was sent to do him and someone called Colin in, and that they intercepted him in the stairwell up to his flat in Glengarnock, Ayrshire.

Colin "stabbed f*** out of him" and Wade Tasered the man in the chest, Mr Asbury told jurors Wade said to him.

The witness was giving evidence at the trial of Wade, 42, Colin Coats, 42, David Parker, 38, and Paul Smith, 47, who deny abducting, torturing and murdering financial adviser Lynda Spence, who disappeared in April 2011.

Mr Asbury said Wade was "raging" with their mutual friend Lee Winyard, 41, as he had gone to see him about getting out on his boat but he had refused. Mr Asbury, who told the court he and Wade had been friends for about 22 or 23 years, said: "I remember going up to see him. I couldn't forget it really. He was kind of stressed, pensive is maybe the word. He had his hands on the counter.

"I said 'What's bothering you?' and he said 'We had a bit of an incident on the stairs'. He said some scouser had been sent to do him and Colin in. They had intercepted him on the stairs. Colin had intercepted him first and stabbed f*** out of him and he had Tasered him in the chest.

"He had to cut up the body, bag it up and take it to Lee's to get rid of it. He wasn't happy with him because he wouldn't go out on the boat. He was raging with Lee."

Wade had been drinking, Mr Asbury said, and told the court he thought it was just "fantasy".

The witness also said he saw a silver Vauxhall Astra car with a broken wing mirror parked in Garnock Grove, a lane next to Wade's block of flats, in April or May 2011.

Coats, Parker, Wade and Smith are accused of taking Ms Spence from a street in Glasgow on April 14 2011. They are said to have held her hostage at a flat in West Kilbride, Ayrshire, where it is alleged they bound, gagged and assaulted her. The trial before Lord Pentland at the High Court in Glasgow continues.