Budding starlet who became a killer

Aspiring singer Tasmin Glass always believed she was destined for the spotlight.

But as the leading lady in one of the most horrific killings ever committed in Angus, it was infamy which fate had in store for the young mum.

Glass took singing lessons from the age of four – right up to the afternoon of June 7 2018, when she made the trip to Blairgowrie for her regular Thursday afternoon visit to the home of former professional opera singer Anne Marie Scrimgeour.

It was less than 12 hours after Mr Donaldson’s body had been found, yet Glass appeared “normal”, her tutor told the High Court.

In local amateur musical circles she had been one to watch, winning prizes at events such as the Arbroath Music Festival and wowing audiences at Kirrie Town Hall with a talent beyond her tender years.

She performed with a group called Headland and, in her pursuit of stardom, moved to Glasgow in 2017 to join Scottish rock/pop outfit the Graham Brown Band.

They sang her praises at the time, saying: “The beautiful Tasmin Glass brings the much needed smooth backing vocals to the band, rich harmonies and overall makes our sound complete.”

However, the move put financial pressure on the teenager as she tried to keep a flat in the city, juggling work in Kirriemuir and weekly trips home for her singing lesson.

It also took its toll on her relationship with Steven Donaldson – the father of her baby son. The relationship broke down and when a car he had bought her in the early days of their romance was written off, her money worries deepened.

Glass turned to new flame Steven Dickie to “sort” her row with Mr Donaldson over cash she was due him from the insurance payout.

It was her direction that prompted the unimaginable savagery which shattered the tranquillity of Kinnordy Loch nature reserve and ended the life of Steven Donaldson.

Glass, as Crown prosecutor Ashley Edwards QC reminded the jury in her compelling closing speech, was the one who “facilitated” her ex-boyfriend’s arrival at Kirrie Hill as darkness fell that early summer’s night.

By luring Steven Donaldson to the Peter Pan playpark, named after the Angus town’s most famous son, she set in motion a chain of events which would go down as one of the blackest chapters in Kirrie history.

In local amateur musical circles she had been one to watch, winning prizes and wowing audiences

Above: Tasmin Glass as an 18-year-old with a hanging basket at the Taste of Angus Festival in 2016. Top: Glass at the High Court in Edinburgh during the trial.