SQUADDIE BATTERED TEEN WITH HAMMER
Alyson’s killer tells of attack moments after stabbing
Grant McCabe
A murder accused took the stand yesterday to describe how he killed his lover before bludgeoning a teenager with a hammer.
Ex-squaddie Gary Brown, 55, hit the lad, 16, after stabbing Alyson Watt 42 times.
He turned up at her Ralston home in Paisley and waited for her to return before launching the attack.
Brown admits killing Alyson, but denies murder and attempted murder during a trial at the High Court in Glasgow.
He claims he was suffering an
“abnormality of the mind” at the time of the slaying.
The former soldier revealed he repeatedly knifed the Barnardo’s charity worker during talks about rekindling their relationship.
He said: “I thought three, four, five times – but I have since found out a hell of a lot more than that.”
Brown told from the witness box how he spotted the teen, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, after stabbing Alyson.
He added: “I picked up a hammer and hit him three of four times.”
Brown met Alyson on a dating website three years ago.
He told the court she was a “beautiful looking woman”.
But he described how she “collapsed heavily on the floor” after he stabbed her at her home in Penilee Road.
During the frenzy he found the boy “frozen solid”.
He then turned on him and clubbed him to the floor on June 2 last year.
Brown told how he was left “heartbroken” amid claims that Alyson snogged another man.
The trial heard he read a text on her phone about a “friendly, drunken kiss” she may have had on a night out.
Brown continued: “It broke my heart and sent me to hell. I could not eat and lost two and a half stones.”
He told the court the relationship had got back on track.
But he travelled to Alyson’s home to confront her over another matter the night he killed her.
He told her it was not a “social call” and that he believed they were “truly finished”.
The ex-serviceman claims she made a “gesture” that they were done talking.
He then recalled pulling a lockback blade from his pocket and stabbing her.
Defence advocate Brian McConnachie QC asked if he remembered knifing her 42 times. Brown replied: “Never.” He left the house after the attack and says he believed she was still alive.
A neighbour raised the alarm after Alyson managed to raise a bloodied hand to her window.
Peter Harris, 71, earlier told how he rushed to help.
He said: “Her hand was dragging down the window. I could see the blood running down.
“She was lying on the floor and was in a bad condition.
“There were wounds to her face and neck. Blood was pulsing out. “Alyson told me that it was Gary.” Brown says he returned to his home before driving to Dumfries intending on killing himself.
It was there he later became aware of police at his car before he was arrested.
The trial, before Lord Summers, continues.