Murder accused was in victim’s home day he died

Jury heard friends behaved ‘like meerkats’ when he revealed the fact

A murder accused shocked his friends by telling them he had been in his alleged victim’s house the day he is believed to have been killed.

A jury was told Steven Thomson’s pals behaved “like meerkats” when he volunteered that he had been at the scene of the crime.

Thomson also told police later that he visited Duncan Banks the day before Duncan was found with horrendous blunt force head injuries.

Giving evidence at the High Court in Livingston yesterday, Glenn Gilmour – a friend of both men – told how he and Thomson had been sitting in their friend Kevin’s house in Dunfermline a couple of days after Duncan’s death in September 2015.

He said: “Steven wasn’t in Kevin’s long, and James Hamilton had brought a Dunfermline Press from the previous week. It had an article about Duncan in it.

“This caused Hammy, me and Kevin to look at each other because the article in the Dunfermline Press said that the police believed the murder to have occurred between half nine and half 12.

“We were like meerkats looking up at each other because we thought he must have been thereabouts at a crucial time.

“I don’t know if Steven seen us or not but then he said something similar to: ‘It’s OK. Tranny J went in at the back of me.”

He said ‘Tranny J’ was what they called another mutual acquaintance Jamie Curtis, after they saw pictures of him “dressed as a woman” on his Facebook page.

Thomson, 29, a prisoner at Perth, is on trial accused of murdering Duncan Banks and possessing heroin.

He is charged with repeatedly hitting the victim on the head with a blunt object or objects to his severe injury, and robbing him of money, heroin, a wallet and a key.

Thomson is also charged with possessing the Class A drug at Duncan Bank’s home and elsewhere in Dunfermline between July 1 and October 13 2015.

He denies the charges and has lodged a special defence of incrimination blaming Jamie Curtis for the murder.

In other evidence, the jury was read a statement Thomson gave to detectives investigating the murder.

In it, he revealed that he stayed at Mr Bank’s when he fell out with his then-partner Claire.

He said: “I am trusted by him so I always go in and use the living room.”

Thomson named a “select few” people who were also allowed access to Mr Banks’ house, stating that most customers who went there to buy heroin were dealt with at the door.

He told police: “When I was leaving I said to Dunc I’d be up later when I got more coin. He walked me to the front door and locked the door behind me.”

The accused said he returned to the house later that afternoon but got no answer at the door and went to play football.

He said: “I thought he was out with the dog or away to his mums which wasn’t unusual.”

The trial, before Lady Rae, continues.

Duncan Banks died in September 2015.