The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Accused ‘confessed’ to inmate, murder trial told
A murder accused allegedly confessed to another prisoner while he was on remand, a jury heard yesterday.
Steven Thomson was in Perth Prison when he was befriended by a trusted ‘passman’, the High Court at Livingston was told.
Privileged prisoner Liam McIlduff claimed that he had asked Thomson several times about the murder of Dunfermline man Duncan Banks while they smoked cannabis together in A hall.
Mr McIlduff, 24, from Rosyth, said Thomson had admitted to him that he had “cracked him over the heid” with a hammer.
He said: “He just told me basically he went and had a smoke with the guy and basically it got out of hand, and that.
“He said he hit him with a hammer.”
Mr McIlduff said Thomson told him he had “striked the guy with a hammer – cracked him over the heid with it.”
Asked if the accused had said if he had got anything as a result of the assault, he replied: “He said he got a monkey (£500).”
Under crossexamination by defence counsel Derek Ogg, he claimed he was unaware of the £10,000 reward offered for information leading to the apprehension and conviction of the murderer.
Thomson, 29, a prisoner at Perth, is on trial accused of murdering Mr Banks and of possessing heroin, between July 1 and October 13 2015.
He denies the charges and has lodged a special defence of incrimination claiming that a mutual friend, Jamie Curtis, murdered Mr Banks.
The trial, before Lady Rae, continues.