Murder trial told of hammer blows

Mrs Johnstone and Mr Park had suffered horrific injuries

An aunt and her nephew whose bodies were found yards apart in a Glasgow flat had been hit on the head and face by a claw hammer, a court has heard.

Glasgow High Court was told Bernadette Johnstone, 39, and John Park, 25, had multiple fractures to their facial bones and skulls.

They also had a mass of bruises and lacerations on their arms, hands, legs and bodies.

Gerald McLeish, 21, denies murdering the pair and raping Mrs Johnstone.

It took Glasgow University pathologist Dr John Clark two hours to outline the multiple injuries Mrs Johnstone and Mr Park had suffered.

Hammer blows

He said many of the wounds may have been caused as they tried to defend themselves from an attack.

Mrs Johnstone had suffered 15 hammer blows to her head and face as well as seven broken ribs. Mr Clark said he also found a bite mark on her thigh and a possible bite mark on her breast.

The bodies were found in a flat in Cranhill

Mr Park had received a total of 16 blows, many of them leaving hammer-shaped marks in bone and flesh.

The was evidence the claw of the hammer had been used, his upper and lower jaw bones were also fractured and his eye and eye socket had suffered massive damage.

Dr Clark said that some of the injuries on both victims suggested they had been inflicted while they were lying down.

The offences are alleged to have happened in Mr Park's 15th floor flat in Longstone Place, Cranhill, Glasgow, on 30 or 31 August last year.

Mr McLeish has lodged special defences of self defence in relation to the murder charges and consent for the rape charge.

Forensics experts

The court has heard evidence that Mr McLeish phoned police to ask them to let him out of Mr Park's flat, claiming he had been locked in alone.

When a joiner opened the door while accompanied by two policemen, Mr McLeish ran away and was arrested six floors down after a chase.

Mrs Johnstone's body was found concealed under a settee in the blood splattered flat, and police forensic experts were unaware for over two-and-a-half hours that Mr Park's body was only two feet away from his aunt's until they lifted up a bed and found him underneath.

The trial before Lord Hardie continues.