Murder trial told of attack on mum

Kimberley MacKenzie, 37, is said to have been killed at a flat on Montrose’s Market Street on October 27 2015.

Her former partner Steven Jackson, 40, and Michelle Higgins, 29, are accused of murdering her with a hammer, machete and knife.

PC Gary Smith, 45, told the High Court in Glasgow that he and colleague PC Michael Woodburn visited Jackson’s property at 40A Market Street on November 4 2015 as part of the hunt for Miss MacKenzie after she was reported missing on October 28.

PC Smith said that when they arrived at the house there was a pungent smell “that we would normally associate with a death of a person”.

He said Jackson appeared to be “in a trance” and said he had lost “a year and a day in prison for the murder”.

The officers said there hadn’t been a murder and Jackson said “yes, yes, Kim Meechan”.

They suggested the name Kimberley MacKenzie and Jackson replied: “Yes that’s it.”

PC Smith said Jackson told them “Kim” had offered him sex in exchange for drugs and when Ms Higgins heard that she came rushing through with a hammer and hit Miss MacKenzie on the head six or seven times.

PC Smith said: “He then stated that he finished her off by cutting her throat.”

The officer also said Jackson told them he had managed to cut the body into numerous pieces and put them in black bags. He and his colleague then contacted their duty inspector. Jackson and Higgins are accused of murdering Miss MacKenzie by hitting her with a hammer, machete and knife or similar items. It is alleged her body was dismembered using a saw, knives and a screwdriver or similar instruments. It is also alleged Miss MacKenzie’s head and other body parts were put in a rucksack and case and hidden in a shower cubicle. Jackson is also charged with two separate drugs offences as well as having a machete in a public place at Fair o’ Blair pub and Balmoral Road, both in Blairgowrie, between November 3 and 4 last year. Higgins, of Lower Craigo Street, Montrose, is accused of having a knife in the town’s Hugh Street on October 27, 2015. The trial continues.

A MURDER trial jury has been told a Tayside mum-of-three was hit over the head with a hammer six or seven times on the night of her death.

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