Man admits killing pensioner, 87

John Lawson's offer to plead guilty to culpable homicide was rejected

A man has admitted killing an 87-year-old woman whose body was discovered in a shallow grave in Perthshire.

However, the High Court in Edinburgh was told that John Lawson, 48, denies murdering Dolina Maclean.

His lawyer said he was willing to plead guilty to culpable homicide, but this was not accepted by the Crown and Mr Lawson will now face trial in February.

Miss Maclean's body was found in woods near Dunning in June, almost three weeks after she disappeared.

The pensioner was a retired mental health nurse who lived with her older sister in Stanley, Perthshire.

Lawson pleaded not guilty to abducting and murdering her on 30 May and later attempting to defeat the ends of justice by moving her body and burying it in a shallow grave.

'Wicked disregard'

Defence QC Gordon Jackson told the court: "What happened here, in terms of what Lawson did is not a matter of dispute. What happened medically - how this lady died - is a matter of difficulty."

The indictment Lawson faces alleges that he got into Miss Maclean's car in Tesco's car park in Crieff Road, Perth, and demanded she drive away.

He is said to have changed drivers in a lay-by and later parked the car at a farm access on the Moneydie to Bankfoot road.

Dolina Maclean's body was found buried in woods near Dunning

He is accused of assaulting the elderly woman "by means unknown," dragging her from the car and trying to force her to walk up a woodland path "for a purpose unknown."

It is alleged that Miss Maclean was carried and dragged to Saddlebrae Wood where Lawson abandoned the unconscious woman, who may even have been dead by then.

The charge accuses Lawson of failing to get medical help and "with wicked and reckless disregard for the consequences of your actions towards her as to whether she lived or died" murdered her.

A second charge alleges that between 30 May and 6 June, Lawson hired a van, picked up the body then drove to Knowehead Woodland, near Dunning.

It is alleged that he put Miss Maclean into a drainage ditch and concealed her body and belongings with soil and other debris.

Judge Lord Menzies fixed a trial date for 20 February, which is expected to last up to 12 days.