The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Man on trial for rape and murder of sister
ST ANDREWS: High Court hears 999 call from accused on night of attack
A Fife man has gone on trial accused of raping and murdering his sister.
The High Court in Glasgow heard Charles Gordon dialled 999 and told police “She’s dead, I’m alive and I thought I’d better report it.”
The 52-year-old denies raping and killing his 50-year-old sister Elizabeth Bowe at a flat in Bobby Jones Place, St Andrews, on September 17.
In evidence yesterday the jury heard that when a call handler asked why he had killed his sister, he replied: “Because she was a cheeky b*****d.”
Prosecutors say Gordon put a dressing gown around Ms Bowe’s neck and a bag over her head, which restricted her breathing.
The trial continues.
A St Andrews man told a police call handler he had killed his sister.
Charles Gordon, 52, dialled 999 and told police: “She’s dead, I’m alive and I thought I’d better report it.”
Gordon is on trial at the High Court in Glasgow accused of raping and killing his sister Elizabeth Bowe, 50, at a house in St Andrews on September 17 last year.
There is agreed evidence that Gordon caused injuries to his sister which resulted in her death three days later.
The jury was played a recording of the call, which Gordon made at 9.24pm on the day of Ms Bowe’s death.
During the call he stated that he had killed her.
Call handler Carrie McFarlane asked him: “Where is she at the moment?” He replied: “Lying on the floor.” Ms McFarlane asked Gordon why he had killed his sister.
“Because she was a cheeky b*****d,” he said.
When Gordon was told that police officers would be sent out to see him, he signed off with: “Don’t worry, hen.”
Police officer Nicola Glover told how she was called to the house.
She told the court two other police officers were already there. One had taken Mr Gordon outside and the other was performing CPR on Ms Bowe, who was lying on the living room floor.
PC Glover was asked if she had seen signs of a disturbance in the living room and replied: “Not so much. I saw a mug with the handle broken off on the living room floor and a pair of spectacles which were lying on the floor.”
Gordon denies murdering Ms Bowe at a flat in Bobby Jones Place, St Andrews, on September 17.
He also denies removing his 50-yearold sister’s clothing and raping her.
Prosecutors say he struggled with her before putting his hands around her neck. The charges state Gordon put a dressing gown around her neck and a bag over her head, which restricted her breathing.
Ms Bowe was found badly injured in her flat and was rushed to Ninewells Hospital in Dundee for treatment, but died three days later, never having regained consciousness.
She had allegedly been seriously assaulted by another man the previous week. On the day she died, a 51-year-old St Andrews man appeared at Dundee Sheriff Court charged with theft and assault to injury.
Earlier Ms Bowe’s son, Charles Gordon, 31, gave evidence saying the accused, who he called Chick, was at his mother’s because he was “a scrounger”, adding: “The only way he was there was to use my mum for money.”
Mr Gordon said he received a call from his mother about 6.45 the night she died. He said: “She had been in an argument with Chick. I assumed the two of them had been drinking. It was tit-fortat, back-and-forth, stupid stuff.”
He was asked if he had any concerns following the call and replied: “No more than usual.”
Mr Gordon told the court he went to bed and was woken in the early hours by police who told him his mother was gravely ill in hospital.
The trial before Judge John Morris QC continues.