Trial told of body parts in four bins

Steven Jackson, 40, and Michelle Higgins, 29, are accused of killing Kimberley MacKenzie with a hammer, machete and knife at a flat in the town’s Market Street on October 27 2015.

The High Court in Glasgow heard items from recycling bins in various areas of Montrose were taken to Baluniefield Police Station in Dundee for samples to be taken.

A bucket in the communal area of Jackson’s home at 40 Market Street contained 37-year-old Miss MacKenzie’s upper torso.

Another bin outside a hairdresser’s salon on the corner of Market Street and Chapel Street contained her lower torso.

Body parts were also found in buckets at William Phillips Drive in Montrose, including a lower leg wrapped in an Asda carrier bag, and Miss MacKenzie’s feet.

Belongings recovered included a blue waterproof jacket, a blood-stained hooded top and a pair of black trainers, one of which had a Samsung mobile phone inside.

An NHS letter addressed to Miss MacKenzie was also found in the pocket of a rucksack in the living room of Jackson’s flat.

The court also heard from Sergeant Colin Cunningham, 44, who described finding a suitcase and a rucksack in a shower at 73 William Phillips Drive.

The officer said a joiner had to be called to help gain entry to the property.

He said: “As soon as the front door was opened to the flat there was a smell that I would associate with decomposition.” Jackson and Higgins are accused of murdering Miss MacKenzie with a hammer, machete and knife or similar items and dismembering her body using a saw, knives and a screwdriver or similar instruments. It is also alleged her head and other body parts were put inside a rucksack and case and hidden in a shower cubicle. Jackson also faces two separate drugs charges and is accused of having a machete i n Blairgowrie between November 3 and 4 last year. Higgins, of Lower Craigo Street, Montrose, is also accused of having a knife in the town’s High Street on October 27. They deny the charges and the trial continues.

A MURDER trial jury has been told the dismembered body of a mum-of-three was found in four separate bins around Montrose.

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