The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Pair accused of killing and cutting up woman
MURDER TRIAL: Friend tells court she was alarmed by strong ‘rotten’ smell coming from flat
A grieving father has told a murder trial how he last saw his daughter smiling and waving to him just days before her dismembered body parts were recovered by police across Montrose.
Terence MacKenzie reported his daughter missing when she failed to meet up with him to collect her bank card.
Days later, he heard that police had recovered her body.
Kimberley MacKenzie was allegedly killed and cut up into 10 separate pieces.
Her head, neck, thorax, abdomen, upper right arm, right forearm and hand, left arm, right thigh, right knee and shin, right foot, left thigh, left knee and shin were found by investigators at various locations in the town between November 4 and 18, last year.
Steven Jackson, 40, and Michelle Higgins, 29, are on trial at the High Court in Glasgow, accused of murdering the 37-year-old.
It is alleged the pair cut her up using a saw, knives and a screwdriver, before wrapping her body parts in bags and hiding them in bins around Montrose. The pair deny all charges.
Giving evidence, retired farm worker Mr MacKenzie said his daughter had a history of drug problems.
He last saw her on October 27, when he drove to a High Street chemist to pick up a prescription.
Later that morning, he drove past her in the street.
“She seemed to be all right,” he said. “That was one of her better days and she seemed to be OK.
“I was driving into High Street and I saw her walking.
“She saw us and gave us a wave and a smile like she usually did.”
Jurors heard that Miss MacKenzie had been in a relationship with Jackson, but the pair had split up in early August 2015.
Michelle Emslie, 33, a close friend of Miss MacKenzie’s, told the court that Jackson had started seeing Higgins.
On October 23, Miss Emslie went to Jackson’s home on Market Street and, as she usually did, knocked on the living room window to get in.
Higgins came outside to speak to her. “She looked agitated,” said Miss Emslie.
“She said Steve didn’t want any visitors. She said he was in a bad mood or something.”
The next day, she met Miss MacKenzie who said she had been “puzzled” to have received a text from Jackson’s phone, saying that she was no longer welcome at his house.
A few days later, after learning that her friend was missing, Miss Emslie went to Jackson’s flat and knocked on the window, but did not get a response.
She said she was alarmed by a strong “rotten” smell coming from the property.
Miss Emslie told the court Jackson was a drug dealer who gave heroin to women in exchange for sexual acts.
The court heard he had protected his property with two CCTV cameras and kept a machete down the side of his couch.
Under cross examination by Donald Finlay QC, representing Jackson, Miss Emslie said that Jackson had described Higgins as a “psycho” and a “bunny boiler” who had a problem with women coming to his flat.
Referring to the machete kept at Jackson’s house, Mark Stewart QC, representing Higgins, said: “A drug dealer who protects his empire with CCTV might also feel the need to protect it with force.”
Jackson and Higgins are accused of repeatedly striking Miss MacKenzie with a hammer and machete before cutting up her body.
It is alleged they poured caustic soda and bleach – or similar substance – into a bath at Jackson’s ground floor flat.
They are also accused of placing Miss MacKenzie’s head and body parts in a rucksack and suitcase and concealing them in a shower cubicle at an address on William Phillips Drive, Montrose.
The trial continues.
Miss Emslie told the court Jackson was a drug dealer who gave heroin to women in exchange for sexual acts