Killer said: ‘I’ve done something terrible’

Girlfriend was choked to death then killer sent texts to her son from her phone to hide crime

A killer choked his lover to death then texted the victim’s young son pretending to be her.

David Anderson strangled Louise O’Brien at their flat in Perth in April this year.

Louise, 36, was later discovered dead on a bed with a heart-shaped chocolate beside her.

Anderson is thought meantime to have used the mum’s phone to contact her 11-year-old son making it look like she was still alive.

He went on to carry out a web search trying to discover if murder accused are locked up.

The 41-year-old eventually confessed to his mother he had “done something terrible”.

The first offender faced a murder allegation as he appeared at the High Court in Glasgow yesterday.

However, prosecutors instead accepted his guilty plea to the reduced charge of culpable homicide.

Anderson was remanded in custody pending sentencing next month.

The couple had been together for around a year before the killing.

The court heard they were known to

PROSECUTOR BERNARD ABLETT

have fall-outs, but Anderson was described by one person as the “best boyfriend” Louise had met.

But call centre worker Anderson later told a colleague he was going to leave his lover and move to Dundee.

Prosecutor Bernard Ablett said the exact date of the killing was not known.

Former bar worker Louise was last spotted on April 24 before her body was discovered four days later.

During that time, Anderson called in sick to work. The killer made a series of web searches including: “if you are accused of murder, are you automatically put in prison?”

It was on April 28 Anderson then contacted his mum to tell her: “I’ve done something terrible and I’ve been unable to deal with it mentally for days.

“I tried to hurt myself because I could not deal with it.

“I don’t want to tell you, but it’ll come out anyway. I have broken the law. It is very serious.”

Police were alerted and officers went on to discover Louise’s body in a bedroom.

Mr Ablett told the court: “A chocolate sweet wrapped in red foil and in the shape of a heart was found on the bed beside the body.”

Louise’s mobile phone was later checked and a number of messages to her son were found.

The advocate depute said: “It is suspected that Anderson was responsible for sending these texts to give the appearance that Louise was still alive.”

The court was told the exact cause of death was “less clear”, but that the mum had injuries consistent with “manual strangulation”.

Judge Lord Boyd deferred sentencing for reports until next month.

A chocolate sweet wrapped in red foil and in the shape of a heart was found on the bed beside the body.

Picture: PPA. Police at the flat in Perth where Louise O’Brien was found dead in April.