Man 'beaten to death with weight'

Robert Mair's body was found in Aberdeen in February

A man beat a father to death with a heavy weight in Aberdeen, a murder trial been told.

The incident was described by a former girlfriend of Derek Carswell, one of two men accused of murdering 57-year-old Robert Mair.

Mr Mair's body was found tied up in a duvet in a cupboard in Kettlehills Crescent in February.

At the High Court in Edinburgh, Mr Carswell, 40, and Stephen Rankin, 32, deny murder. The trial continues.

Jane McBurnie, 18, told the second day of the trial she travelled to Aberdeen with her then boyfriend and Mr Rankin.

He said he had hit him with a weight or something he had in the bedroom Jane McBurnie Witness

She said they went to Mr Mair's house and she heard some noise before it went quiet.

Ms McBurnie said Mr Carswell had come downstairs and said: "It has went wrong. I have just killed him."

She said Mr Carswell had seemed alright and was smiling but that Mr Rankin was "really white and shaking".

The men returned upstairs, then came back down with what appeared to be a body.

She and Mr Rankin sat in the living room "really scared" while Mr Carswell searched the house. Later, she claimed, Mr Carswell told her what had happened.

Cover up

She said: "He said he had hit him [Mr Mair] with a weight or something he had in the bedroom."

The trial previously heard police found a body tied up in a cupboard.

It is alleged that in January or February this year the two accused attacked Mr Mair at the house at Kettlehills Crescent, grabbed him by the hair and neck, assaulted him with a weight and tied his arms, legs and mouth with duct tape and shoelaces.

The pair are also accused of trying to cover up the alleged murder by washing a blood-stained weight, wrapping up Mr Mair in a duvet and hiding the body in a cupboard.

Mr Carswell further denies charges of breach of the peace by threatening Mr Mair on an earlier occasion, theft, attempted theft and fraud.

Both men deny all the charges against them and Mr Rankin claims that he was acting under coercion if he did anything wrong.