The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Man faces trial accused of murdering his sister
COURT: Sibling of Annalise Johnstone in court with 28-year-old woman
A man is to stand trial next year, along with a woman, charged with murdering his sister at a notorious witch’s monument in Perthshire.
Jordan Johnstone, 24, and Angela Newlands, 28, appeared for a hearing at the High Court in Glasgow yesterday.
They are both accused of murdering Annalise Johnstone at the Maggie Wall Memorial near Dunning in May this year.
Prosecutors allege 22-year-old Annalise was repeatedly struck on the neck with a knife or similar item.
Johnstone and Newlands also face a charge of attempting to defeat the ends of justice.
It is claimed Annalise’s body was moved in a Ford Galaxy car and left near a stone dyke at the side of the B8062 road between Dunning and Auchterarder.
The pair are further alleged to have made a false report that Annalise – who also went by the name McDonald – was missing.
Jordan Johnstone faces another charge of assaulting his sister in Beith, Ayrshire, two days before the alleged killing.
He is further accused of attacking another woman in Coatbridge, Lanarkshire, on May 6 this year.
Johnstone’s QC Keith Stewart and Brian McConnachie QC, who is defending Newlands, both pled not guilty on their behalf.
Lord Burns set a trial due to begin next April in Livingston.
The case could last for up to 15 days. Annalise’s body was found in a wooded area by a member of the public on May 10.
The back road between Auchterarder and Dunning was closed for more than two weeks while police officers carried out investigations.
The Maggie Wall memorial, which was supposedly erected in memory of a woman burned as a witch at the site in 1657, was sealed off with black tarpaulin laid on the ground.
The monument achieved notoriety when it was visited by Moors Murderers Ian Brady and Myra Hindley during their killing spree in the 1960s.
Annalise’s dad said his “heart has been ripped out” by his daughter’s death.
Gordon Johnstone, 43, of Fauldhouse, West Lothian, split from Annalise’s mum Kathleen, who died aged 34 after a heroin overdose in 2006.