Trial told man saw bridge fall
A LIFEGUARD yesterday told a murder trial he saw a man thrown from a bridge.
Cameron Binnie said he saw two men throw another into a canal then walk away.
The 19-year-old told the High Court in Glasgow he was standing outside a nightclub in Falkirk when he saw three men “mucking about” on Bainsford Bridge.
Cameron said: “It looked like play fighting. One of the men had another man in a headlock. I thought it was pals just mucking about.”
The lifeguard said he changed his mind when he saw the two men grab the other man’s legs.
He added: “I just saw them lifting his legs. It looked to me that they were trying to put him over into the water.
“I saw them either side of him trying to get his hands off the railing. He was over the barrier and hanging on the railing.”
Cameron, who was standing about 100 yards away, said the man went into the water and the two other men walked away.
He added: “We checked the water to see if there was any sign of movement – there wasn’t.”
He was giving evidence at the trial of Mark Munro, 31, and James Robertson, 27.
Munro, of Denny, and Robertson, of Pitlochry, deny murdering Falkirk man Russell Robertson, 27, by pushing him over railings at Bainsford Bridge and into the Forth and Clyde Canal on May 29 last year.
It is alleged they punched Russell repeatedly on the hands and prised his fingers from the railings.
Derek Ogg, QC, for Munro, said there was no mention of Russell’s hands on the railings in three statements Cameron gave police.
He added: “The only rational explanation is that you never saw such a thing, isn’t that correct?” Cameron replied: “Yes.” The trial, before judge Lady Carmichael continues.
Buzzard snared
A criminal investigation has been launched after a buzzard was caught in an illegal trap on Beinn Bhreac, south of Inverness. The distressed bird was freed. A HERO Scots midwife was credited with saving a woman’s life after she fell unconcious on a holiday flight to the US.
Mum-of-two Cheryl Clark resuscitated the passenger after their Thomas Cook flight from Glasgow was diverted en route to Orlando at the weekend.
Cheryl, 37, is desperate for news of the woman after the seizure, which happened when the jet was grounded for hours in Tampa, Florida. Cheryl, of Morningside, Lanarkshire, said: “I have been
thinking about her and her family constantly.”
Cheryl, husband Robbie and their children Lauren, nine, and Lewis, five, left Glasgow on the scheduled nine-hour flight on Saturday.
The plane was diverted to Tampa due to adverse weather and was stuck on the tarmac for four hours.
The airline gave out water and cereal bars before the woman fell ill. Cheryl, who worked at Wishaw General, went to help with another passenger who is a nurse.
They found a woman in her 20s, known only as Sarah Jane, who was having a seizure and struggling to breathe. Cheryl said: “She was fitting, foaming at the mouth and blue-lipped. “It was clear she had been fitting for a while due to her colour.
“One look at the lady and I knew how serious the situation was. My training kicked in and I led the situation.
“The nurse and I managed to get her off the chair, on to the aisle where I placed her in the recovery position as best as I could. I tipped her chin to open her airways and asked staff for oxygen.
“Within 10 seconds, I could see this was working and after two minutes, Sarah Jane became conscious.”
When paramedics got there, Sarah Jane was carried off the flight in a chair.
She was travelling with a couple thought to be her parents and a boy of about eight. They thanked Cheryl for saving the woman’s life.
Passengers were then told to disembark because the crew had reached their working limit. But the Clark family were left stranded in the airport, 85 miles from Orlando, for six more hours.
Cheryl said: “It was carnage with tired kids crying, adults crying and no communication. No one from Thomas Cook was visible. We had no access to food or drink.”
A bus finally arrived to take them on to Orlando – 18 hours after take-off.
A Thomas Cook spokesman said: “Tampa is not one of our regular airports so we don’t have a presence on the ground and our customers experienced some delays to the onward journey to Orlando.
“We’re sorry for the inconvenience this caused.”