Victim was popular young man with a loving, happy family

The immaculate white BMW with its handsome, dark-haired owner at the wheel was a familiar sight in Arbroath.

A successful career in the oil industry meant Steven Donaldson had plenty of disposable income with which to indulge his interest in “boys’ toys”.

Cars and motorcycles were a passion and he owned two flats in Arbroath and another in Aberdeen, which he rented out.

Work took him away for long periods but home was with his family. He stayed with his parents in Arbroath and his sister Lori recalled the last time she saw him as she gave evidence on the opening day of the murder trial.

He had been playing with his nephew in the garden of the family home in Arbroath in the early evening of June 6, and waved her goodbye as he set off to meet Tasmin Glass in Kirriemuir.

The following afternoon, a friend of Steven’s came to the house to say no one had heard from him and they were worried to hear that a body had been found in Angus.

It was the beginning of a living nightmare for the close-knit family.

For every minute of the 19-day trial, Steven Donaldson’s mother, father and two sisters were in court to hear the often gruesome evidence in the case against the three accused of killing him.

They listened to the lies of Steven Dickie, Callum Davidson and Tasmin Glass as they spun a tangled web of deceit in an attempt to conceal the parts they played in the slaughter of a successful and popular young man.

And shortly before 5pm yesterday, the Donaldson family heard the verdicts announced on the three accused in the dock.

All that can be hoped for is that they find some comfort in the pronouncements of the Edinburgh jury foreman and the lengthy sentences which await Steven’s killers.

He had been playing with his nephew in the garden of the family home in Arbroath in the early evening

For Mr Donaldson, home was with his family in Arbroath.