Fife man accused of murdering sister tells court she attacked him.

Man says he grabbed 50-year-old by the throat after drinking session turned sour

A Fife man accused of murdering his sister has claimed his sibling threatened to “cut the face off” him.

Charles Gordon, 52, has denied murdering Elizabeth Bowe, 50, by putting a dressing gown around her neck, compressing it and placing a bag over her head at her home in Bobby Jones Place, St Andrews, on September 17 last year.

Gordon had also been charged with sexually assaulting Ms Bowe and threatening detectives, but those two charges were withdrawn by the Crown yesterday.

At the High Court in Glasgow, Gordon said he had been staying with his sister on September 17 and had started drinking with her in the flat at around teatime.

He said Ms Bowe became angry because he refused to go and “score” cannabis from her drug dealer. “She went from jovial, listening to music, to being p **** d off angry,” he said.

As the evening progressed, that anger continued and Gordon claimed his sister started stripping her clothes off and threatened to allege he had raped her.

Gordon told the court she had said: “I’m going to get you 18 years in the jail dafty – for rape.”

Gordon recalled: “I wasn’t as blootered as my sister was but I felt I had a drink in me.

“I laughed about what she had said; I was more confused than anything and couldn’t quite believe it. It was a bit bewildering.”

Gordon then told the court: “I said to her: ‘You are acting like a retard’.”

At that point, Gordon said Ms Bowe threatened to get a knife and “cut the face off” him.

Gordon said he then grabbed his sister by the throat with his left hand.

“She tried to throw punches at me, spouting, growling at me. I kept hold of her until she hit the floor,” he added.

Gordon said he sat down for a minute “probably in disbelief”, and checked that his sister wasn’t “kidding on”.

He then said he wiped blood off her mouth with a plastic bag.

Asked how he felt seeing his sister lying on the floor, Gordon said: “Hurt, confused, sad. “I love my sister, I still do. “Out of all my family, Elizabeth was the one I got on with the best.”

Advocate depute Iain McSporran accused Gordon of making up a “vile and disgusting lie” to explain his sister being half naked.

He added that Gordon’s explanation that he used the plastic bag to wipe his sister’s mouth was “preposterous”.

“As she was trying to save her life by grabbing the bag and pulling it off her head, that would explain it being in pieces?” Mr McSporran continued.

“The fact I never put it on her head, she didn’t have to rip it off. I ripped it,” Gordon responded.

The trial continues.