Three deny murdering man at nature reserve

THREE people are to stand trial next year for allegedly setting a man on fire and murdering him at a nature reserve.

Steven Dickie, 23, Callum Davidson, 23, and Tasmin Glass, 19, are charged with killing Steven Donaldson between June 6 and 7 this year.

The trio allegedly arranged to meet the 27-year-old at a play park in Kirriemuir, Angus, and assaulted him, then took him to Loch of Kinnordy Nature Reserve.

Prosecutors claim they further attacked him and set fire to him and to his car. Dickie, Davidson and Glass appeared in the dock yesterday at the High Court in Glasgow where they all pleaded not guilty to murdering Mr Donaldson.

Dickie and Davidson also denied a string of other charges including assaults and behaving in a threatening or abusive manner. One charge alleges that between February and May 2017 at Main Street, Lochore, Fife, they put a kitten in a bag and swung the bag and punched and kicked the kitten.

The two men and Glass are accused of arranging to meet Mr Donaldson at Peter Pan Play Park ‘with the intention of assaulting him’, between June 6 and 7 this year. It is claimed that once there, they repeatedly struck him on the head and body with unknown instruments ‘whereby he was incapacitated’, then transported him to the nature reserve.

The charge further alleges that they repeatedly struck him on the head and body with a knife, baseball bat or similar instruments and repeatedly struck him on the head and neck with ‘an unknown heavy, bladed instrument’ and set fire to him and his car.

A trial was set for April next year at the High Court in Edinburgh and Glass was granted bail.