Dead man had £200,000 in cash stored in his home

Court: Scene of crime officers took a month to discover the hoard of money

A mechanic found dead in his rural Aberdeenshire home had nearly £200,000 in cash stored in the house, a court has heard.

Brian McKandie was found dead in Badenscoth in March 2016 and Steven Sidebottom, 25, is on trial at the High Court in Aberdeen accused of murdering and robbing him.

Yesterday, jurors heard that scene of crime officers did not discover the money until the following month.

Kelly Dunbar, a friend of Mr McKandie, took her car to the mechanic’s house the day he was found with the intention of having him check it over ahead of an MOT.

She said she went with her partner and daughter and could not find Mr McKandie but was sure he was not far away as both his vehicles were there.

The 42-year-old said they left but returned 20 minutes later because “something was not right” and when she looked through the window of his home she saw blood and called the police.

She said officers arrived 20 minutes later with fire and ambulance crews and she was told to wait in her car, which she did, and they were later told he was dead.

Her partner, Mark Coutts, also gave evidence and was asked by defence counsel Ian Duguid about his relationship with Mr McKandie.

He said the mechanic would joke about money going into a shoe box and that he would have to go to the bank as the shoe box was full, but said he had never seen such an item.

Mr Duguid said: “There was discovered nearly £200,000 cash in the house. Did you have any inclination that he had that money stored in tins, boxes and wallets?”

He said he had not. Later the court heard from PC Ross McDonald who said the home was not initially treated as a crime scene.

He said paramedics had told him that Mr McKandie’s use of warfarin, an anticoagulant, could explain the amount of blood found at the scene.

Sidebottom, of Crannabog Farm in Rothienorman, denies the charge against him and has launched special defences of alibi and incrimination, claiming he was elsewhere at the time of the crime and that another man is responsible.

The trial, before Lord Uist, continues.

‘SOMETHING WAS NOT RIGHT’: Kelly Dunbar told jurors of the moment she found Mr McKandie