Accused ‘phoned family after stabbing to tell what he’d done’

Published on 30/06/2012 12:00

A MURDER accused phoned his two closest relatives minutes after he stabbed his best pal and told them what he’d done, a court heard.

Derek Kinghorn allegedly confessed to killing Brian Mair, originally from Edinburgh, in “distressed” calls to his daughter Chloe Taylor and his brother Gary.

The High Court at Livingston heard that repeated swearing during the calls was out of character.

Miss Taylor, 20, told the jury the knife attack was “something to do with getting accused of cheating with this guy’s girlfriend, also something about a joke”.

She said: “He just said that he’d stabbed someone and that he was sorry and that he never meant it.

“He said that he’d been drinking with this guy and they had an argument and things went out of hand.”

Gary Kinghorn, 46, who works as a postman, said he didn’t pick up his brother’s message until he got up for work the next day.

In the voicemail recording which was played to the jury, the accused can clearly be heard saying: “Gavin, I’ve just stabbed somebody and I’ve just killed the c***.”

Mr Kinghorn said he replayed the message at least four times to make sure he was hearing what he’d heard the first time.

Kinghorn, 44, now of Hawick in the Scottish Borders, denies repeatedly striking Mr Mair on the head and body with a knife, threatening to kill him and murdering him.

He also denies assaulting Mr Mair’s girlfriend Amy Michaels, 46, by striking her on the body with a knife to her severe injury and permanent disfigurement during the incident on November 1, 2011.

The trial continues.