Pair met up to ‘sort things’, jury told

GARY McMillan and his alleged killer Arran Fender met hours before their fateful encounter to “sort things”, the jury heard.

Fender’s ex-girlfriend Jessica Holt told the High Court in Edinburgh the accused agreed to meet in Lochee Park on May 15, the day before Mr McMillan’s death.

Mr McMillan also took an unknown item to this meeting to protect himself, she said.

“They exchanged a few words that was all,” Ms Holt said.

“He (McMillan) took something but it was only for speaking. He only wanted to speak.

“He told me when he got in that he had taken something. They were speaking to sort things but nothing came of it.

“Arran stayed on a different side of the fence after he knew Gary had something so they ended up briefly speaking.”

Earlier in the day jurors heard from PC Jonathan Hamilton, 30, who was one of the first officers to arrive on the scene of the May 16 incident, at around 2.25am.

He said a silver knife found near to Mr McMillan’s body was similar to knives found in his Lawton Terrace flat. The court was shown images of three silver knives in Mr McMillan’s flat as well as a block containing one silver knife in a kitchen cupboard.

PC Hamilton said: “We got the keys to the man’s flat from the female who was in the street when we turned up.

“There were silver-handled knives in the kitchen similar to the one (found at the scene).”