Jury shown photos of girl's burned body at murder trial

Published on Monday 23 November 2009 14:51

PHOTOGRAPHS of the burned body of teenager Jessica McCagh were shown to a murder trial jury today.

• Jessica McCagh

Solicitor General Frank Mulholland QC said the two full-length pictures were to "inform" the jury and were not intended to shock.

He told the High Court in Livingston the photographs would not be shown on the screens in court as a result of their "sensitivity".

Addressing judge Lord Bracadale, the prosecutor said he made the decision to present the photographs in such a way after careful consideration.

He told the court: "It is my intention to place these two photographs before the ladies and gentlemen of the jury for the purpose of informing, as opposed to upsetting or shocking."

Today is the fifth day of the trial of Miss McCagh's boyfriend, 18-year-old Stewart Blackburn. Blackburn denies murdering Miss McCagh in Arbroath, Angus, in April this year by dousing her in petrol and setting her on fire.

The photographs were shown to the jury during the evidence of forensic pathologist David Sadler, 46, of the University of Dundee, who carried out a post-mortem examination on Miss McCagh's body on April 26 this year.

The court heard the cause of Miss McCagh's death was recorded as the "effects of fire".

Reading from his report, he told the court widespread burning to the skin and "subsequent acute complications" represented the "major mechanism of death".

Smoke inhalation and carbon monoxide poisoning were also likely to have contributed to her death, the court was told.

The expert witness said he found soot in Miss McCagh's airways and in her stomach, indicating that she had breathed it in and swallowed it when she was alive.

The trial was also told that Miss McCagh could not have lived with the injuries she suffered.

Dr Sadler told Mr Mulholland her burns were "beyond what's survivable".

The post-mortem examination also found that the pattern of burning on Miss McCagh's body suggested an "accelerated clothing fire" and he agreed that the burning was consistent with the accelerant being petrol.

He said it was difficult for him to estimate the volume of petrol, but said it would be "more like a jug than a glass".

Dr Elizabeth Skelly, a registrar at the A&E department of Ninewells Hospital in Dundee, told the court initial estimates on April 25 suggested Miss McCagh had burns to 95% of her body.

The 32-year-old witness said around 50% of those burns were "full thickness burns", affecting the outer and inner layers of skin.

Anas Nassan, 54, a consultant plastic surgeon who looked after Miss McCagh when she was transferred to intensive care at the hospital, said subsequent examinations found Miss McCagh had burns to 80-85% of her body.

He said he assessed the depth of burning at "full thickness" and said that calculations came up with an "almost 100% probability of death" in Miss McCagh's case.