Trial adjourned after police unable to find critical evidence

A wife accused of deliberately driving into her husband had her trial adjourned yesterday after a court heard Police Scotland had lost the key evidence.

Businesswoman Nikola Murdoch was due to go on trial accused of assaulting her husband Colin by reversing into him and knocking him down with the car door.

Mobile phone footage of the incident was supposed to have been played in the court, but the DVD failed to load properly.

Depute fiscal Michael Sweeney told Perth Sheriff Court he would arrange for the police to bring the mobile phone to court in the afternoon so the footage could be viewed directly.

But when the court reconvened, the prosecutor told Sheriff James Macdonald that officers had been unable to find the phone.

Mr Sweeney said: “I have tried to get the disc to work again over the lunch period and I couldn’t get it to work.

“The police have come back to me and said that they aren’t able to find the phone at present.”

He added: “I would ask for an adjournment to have a final opportunity to locate the phone.”

Solicitor David Holmes said the mobile phone belonged to Mr Murdoch, adding: “If it doesn’t exist then there won’t be a case. “The footage is critical.” He called for the earliest possible conclusion to the case, saying his client had no convictions and the case against her was “extremely thin”.

“These ongoing proceedings have caused the accused great concern.

“She is self-employed and has her own business,” he said.

Murdoch, 49, of Murrayshall, Perthshire, denies assaulting Colin Murdoch at Foresters House, Blackcraig, Ballintuim, on August 13 last year.

Sheriff Macdonald granted the Crown’s motion to adjourn the trial and allowed a new trial to be fixed in April.

He said: “If the current DVD doesn’t work, then the police better find the phone – otherwise there will be no case.”