Accused 'told sister to keep gun'

Mr Devlin died after being shot outside a snooker club

A drive-by shooting murder accused asked his sister to look after a gun for him, a trial has heard.

Mother-of-two Stephanie McKenzie said her brother Anthony Collins arrived at her door in Renfrew with the weapon at 2300 BST on 3 August, 2007.

Mr Collins, 30, Richard McCondochie, 25, and John Burke, 28, deny murdering 18-year-old Andrew Devlin and attempting to murder Gerald O'Doherty.

The two victims were shot outside a Paisley snooker club on 3 August, 2007.

Miss McKenzie, 26, told the jury her brother had turned up at he door with a bag in his hand.

He was accompanied by another man, who she identified in court as Richard McCondochie.

She said: "I asked Tony what was in the bag. I knew it was something bad because Tony told me to keep the weans away from it."

With the people Tony was going about with at the time it was inevitable he was going to get himself into trouble Stephanie McKenzie

The court heard that Mr Collins eventually told his sister there was a gun inside the bag.

Miss McKenzie added that she began shouting at Mr Collins, and asked him why he had brought it to her door.

He told her it would only be for one night, she said.

She told the court Mr Collins returned the following afternoon with two men she described as "heavies".

In the meantime she had learned of the shooting the previous night at Suzy Q's snooker club and knew Mr Devlin had died.

One of the men picked up her TV remote control and brought up a news item about the shooting at Suzy Q's.

While the two men were looking at the TV, Miss McKenzie said she spoke to her brother in the kitchen. She said he denied he had been involved in the shooting.

Miss McKenzie said she had told her brother: "I'm not daft. The papers are saying the boy that was shot was only out for a fag and didn't deserve it."

'Dodgy characters'

She claimed that Collins replied: "He did deserve it. It wasn't for nothing."

Under cross-examination by defence QC Donald Findlay, she agreed there could have been a misunderstanding, and that she could have been talking about Mr Devlin and her brother could have been referring to the other victim, Mr O'Doherty.

She also told defence QC Brian McConnachie, representing Mr McCondochie: "With the people Tony was going about with at the time it was inevitable he was going to get himself into trouble. I know they were dodgy characters because of things he had been saying."

She agreed with Mr McConnachie that the other man with her brother on the night in question had nothing to do with the bag containing the gun.

Mr Collins, Mr McCondochie and Mr Burke, all from Glasgow, also deny attempting to defeat the ends of justice by concealing a shotgun and setting fire to a Peugeot 307 estate car between 3 August, 2007, and 20 June, 2008, and firearms charges.

Mr Collins and Mr McCondochie have lodged special defences.

Co-accused Laura Kinnear, 29, from Govan, Glasgow, denies firearms charges between 15 October and 30 October, 2007.

The trial, before Lord Malcolm, continues.