Woman, 19, accused of murder is granted bail

Trial date is set for next April after trio appear at Glasgow hearing

A female teenager accused of murdering Angus oil worker Steven Donaldson has been granted bail by a High Court judge.

Tasmin Glass, 19, appeared in open court for the first time alongside co-accused Callum Davidson and Steven Dickie at the High Court in Glasgow for a preliminary hearing in the case which follows the discovery of the 27-year-old Arbroath man’s body at an Angus beauty spot in June.

All three, from Kirriemuir, are charged with arranging to meet Mr Donaldson at the town’s Peter Pan playpark between June 6 and 7 with the intention of attacking him, before repeatedly striking him on the head with unknown instruments.

The indictment further alleges that after being incapacitated, Mr Donaldson was then taken to Loch of Kinnordy nature reserve, where the three accused are alleged to have repeatedly struck him on the head and body with a baseball bat and knife, setting him and his vehicle on fire, and murdering him.

Following an application by her defence counsel, Mark Stewart QC, Lord Burns granted Glass bail on the special condition that she does not reside in or enter the county of Angus.

No application for bail was made on behalf of either Davidson or Dickie by their respective legal counsel.

Dickie and Davidson, both 23, each face a number of other charges relating to alleged offences in Angus, Perthshire and Fife dating as far back as 2014.

They include behaving in a threatening manner to a number of people in separate incidents in Kirriemuir, Alyth and Brechin between January 2014 and June 2018, and between December 2017 and February this year.

Both men are also charged with putting a kitten in a bag on Lochore Main Street between February and May last year before swinging the bag about and punching and kicking the animal.

Trial has been set for the High Court in Edinburgh on April 1 next year and is scheduled to last around three weeks.

The Glasgow hearing heard that telephone reports and cell-site analysis are still being prepared for the case.

The discovery of Mr Donaldson’s body in the early hours of June 7 at the RSPB nature reserve on the outskirts of Kirriemuir led to a two-week cordon being thrown up around the area.

A no-fly zone was also introduced above the popular reserve, just west of the Angus town, as part of the major police inquiry.

Mr Donaldson’s death shocked his home community of Arbroath and he was laid to rest on what would have been his 28th birthday.

At his funeral service, he was described as a bright, hard-working, funny, ambitious and very talented young man.

The car and motorbike enthusiast’s offshore career had taken him to locations including Azerbaijan, Russia, Africa and Congo.

Steven Donaldson’s death shocked his home community of Arbroath.