‘Fight just before’ fatal blaze
A MURDER accused was involved in a fight with the sons of the man he is alleged to have killed hours before a fatal blaze broke out, a court was told yesterday.
Barry Henderson, 42, of Fraserburgh, denies murdering Gordon Graham, 43, and trying to murder his wife Anne in a fire in Fraserburgh on May 3,1998.
It is alleged Henderson set fire to materials in the ground-floor stair and landing before the fire “took effect” in two flats occupied by the Grahams.
Asked if there was an incident at the Sugar and Spice venue in the town’s High Street on May 2, 1998, publican William Morrison, 40, replied: “It was a fight between Barry Henderson and a couple of the Graham lads.”
The High Court in Glasgow has heard Gordon had three sons David, James and Dean and they were known as the “family from hell” after they moved from Fife to Fraserburgh in 1995.
Joiner Christopher Young, 42, of Fraserburgh, told the court that after the incident at the Sugar and Spice, someone with a Glasgow or Fife accent shouted: “We’re going to burn your ma’s pubs.”
Among other charges, Henderson is also accused of assaulting a woman in a nightclub in Fraserburgh on May 3, 1998.
He denies all the charges and has lodged defences of alibi and incrimination.
The trial continues.