Victim's wife 'saw killer's eyes'

The court heard how Mr McAlroy's body was found

A woman who saw a man running away after her husband was shot dead has told a court she would never forget his "starey" eyes.

Justin McAlroy died after being shot outside the front door of his home in Cambuslang, Lanarkshire, in March 2002.

When his wife Tracey was asked if she could see anyone resembling the man at the High Court in Glasgow she pointed at the accused, William Gage.

Mr Gage denies murdering Justin McAlroy by shooting him in the head and body.

He has lodged a special defence of alibi, claiming he was at other addresses in the Glasgow area on the night in question.

They're the eyes I thought I saw that night, but I am not 100% sure Tracey McAlroy

Mrs McAlroy, asked by Alan Mackay, prosecuting, what it was she recognised Mr Gage by, she replied: "By the eyes. I will never forget the eyes."

Asked what it was about his eyes she said: "Starey eyes."

Quizzed further about how certain she was about the resemblance she admitted: "They're the eyes I thought I saw that night, but I am not 100% sure."

Earlier, Mrs McAlroy told how she was expecting her husband home when she heard three loud noises like a car backfiring and went to her front door to investigate.

As she opened it she saw a "suspicious man" running past under a street light outside.

He was wearing a dark anorak with a large hood and something else covering his face and dark trousers.

As he ran by the man put his hand up towards his face and the other in his pocket.

'Legs under car'

Mrs McAlroy said she only got a glimpse of the man's face from the forehead to the bottom of his nose.

She then ran up to her front facing bedroom being "nosey" and to see where he had gone, but he had vanished.

Asked by Mr Mackay what else she saw she became emotional as she described how she saw her husband's legs near her next door neighbour's car.

She added: "He must have been lying under the car because his legs were sticking out."

She also saw the car her husband had been driving and ran out into the street where neighbours had gathered round him.

Mr McAlroy's mother and father later took her to Victoria Infirmary, Glasgow, where she was told her husband was dead.

The trial continues, with Mrs McAlroy due to be cross examined on Friday.