Murder accused tells trial: I loved my sister

A MAN accused of strangling his sister has told a jury he loved her and wanted her “back with me now”.

Charles Gordon, 52, made the claim about Elizabeth Bowe yesterday at his murder trial at the High Court in Glasgow. He was acquitted of raping her after that charge was withdrawn yesterday.

Giving evidence, Mr Gordon claimed his sister had ripped her clothes off at her home in St Andrews last September. He alleged she told him she would get him jailed for rape and threatened to cut his face with a knife.

He “reacted instinctively” and grabbed her throat.

After Mr Gordon made a 999 call to say he thought he had killed her, police found Ms Bowe lying on the floor naked from the waist down and dying. Mr Gordon was sitting on the sofa smoking a cigarette.

He told solicitor advocate Iain Paterson his sister, whom he was staying with, was in a bad mood because he refused to go into town for an errand.

He told the jury: “She was angry. She started stripping her clothes off and threatening to accuse me of rape. She said: ‘I’m going to get you 18 years in the jail, dafty, for raping me’.”

Mr Paterson asked Mr Gordon how he felt about this and he replied: “I laughed about it. I couldn’t quite believe it. It was bewildering, confusing.”

Mr Gordon claimed his sister then threatened to get a knife and cut his face and said: “I grabbed hold of her by her throat with my left hand.

“I kept a hold of her until she hit the floor. She slumped and went down. When she went down I let her go.”

Mr Gordon said there was no pulse.

The trial continues.