Witness: murder accused felt bad

Steven Jackson, 40, and Michelle Higgins, 29, are on trial at the High Court in Glasgow accused of murdering Kimberley MacKenzie with a hammer, machete and knife on October 27 2015.

PC Michael Woodburn, 29, told jurors he made detailed notes of what Jackson said to him and colleague PC Gary Smith on the night of November 4 2015.

They went to Jackson’s property on Montrose’s Market Street as part of the hunt for his former partner Miss MacKenzie, who was reported missing on October 28 last year.

PC Woodburn said: “He told us he had cut up the body by cutting through the wrist, the knees and shoulder and under the sternum.

“He said he felt normal doing this and went into auto mode and said he felt bad that he had no reaction to that.”

PC Woodburn said that when Jackson initially told them about Miss MacKenzie’s death they thought he was “talking fantasy”.

He added: “I was aware Kim had been missing for a week and there had been no sighting of her and she hadn’t used her bank card or mobile.

“However, Mr Jackson has talked fantasy in the past.”

PC Woodburn said Jackson told officers to shine a “blood light” on the wall of his living room.

PC Woodburn was keen not to contaminate the scene of a potential crime and took Jackson to Montrose police station after other officers arrived. Prosecutors allege Jackson and Higgins murdered 37-year-old Miss Mackenzie with a hammer, machete and knife or similar items and that her body was dismembered using a saw, knives and a screwdriver or similar instruments. It is also alleged her head and other body parts were put inside a rucksack and case and hidden in a shower cubicle. Jackson also faces two separate drugs charges and is accused of having a machete in Blairgowrie between November 3 and 4 last year. Higgins, of Lower Craigo Street, Montrose, allegedly had a knife in the town’s High Street on October 27 2015. They deny the charges and the trial continues.

A MAN accused of murdering a Tayside mum told a police officer he “felt bad” because he had “no reaction” to cutting up her body, a court was told.

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