Smell of decomposition discovered at town flat

Police sergeant tells jurors of discovery of rucksack and suitcase at property

Police investigating the disappearance of a Montrose mother-of-three forced their way into a property and were struck by a smell of “decomposition,” a murder trial has heard.

Sergeant Colin Cunningham told the High Court in Glasgow how he led a team of officers to a ground-floor flat in William Phillips Drive.

Mr Cunningham said he immediately set up a crime scene at the property after discovering a suspicious suitcase and rucksack in the shower.

Jurors were told that murder accused Michelle Higgins had been given the keys to the property.

She went with her boyfriend, David Melville, to Aberdeen on the day that body parts were found in wheelie bins around the town centre.

Higgins, 29, and Steven Jackson, 40, are accused of murdering 37-year-old Kimberley MacKenzie at Jackson’s Market Street flat in October, last year.

The pair are further accused of cutting up her body and hiding the parts in bins.

It is alleged they put Miss MacKenzie’s head and other body parts in a rucksack and suitcase at the William Phillips Drive house.

Mr Cunningham said he was told to visit the house on November 5, while Jackson was helping police with their inquiries. He said: “As soon as we were through the front door, there was a smell which I would associate with decomposition.”

The smell became worse once the bathroom door was open.

“Within the shower tray there were two bags,” he said. “One was a rucksack and one was a suitcase.

“I insisted that the officers exit the property. We closed the door and I requested one of the officers started maintaining a crime scene log. This meant we had taken control of the premises.”

On the same day, Higgins went to Aberdeen with her new boyfriend, 36-year-old Mr Melville.

Giving evidence by video, he told the court that it was his idea to visit the Granite City to buy heroin.

Detective Sergeant John Stewart, 34, told the court that wheelie bins from around Market Place were taken to a central location for searching.

He said a leg was found in a bin next to the William Phillip Drive and part of a torso was in a recycling bin which was abandoned near a hair salon on Chapel Street.

The trial continues.

The smell became worse once the bathroom door was open

Detective Sergeant John Stewart, left, said part of a torso was found in a recycling bin.