Bank worker recognised man forcing abducted businessman to withdraw £5000 from account

By JOHN ROBERTSON
Published on 14/11/2012 16:31

A MAN was recognised as he allegedly forced an abducted businessman to withdraw £5,000 from his bank account, a court has heard.

• A family friend of the accused was working in the Bank of Scotland branch where Paul Breslin attempted to force Alex Ormiston to withdraw the sum from his account

• Mr Ormiston died two weeks later in hospital from injuries following an assault at his Fife home

• Bank worker Nikki Cowan told the court that Breslin did not seem ‘shocked, annoyed, anxious or worried’ to see her

Paul Breslin, 41, was in a branch of the Bank of Scotland where a family friend worked, a jury was told.

Nikki Cowan, 25, said Breslin was with an older man who was making a transaction and approached to speak to her. He had not known she worked for the bank.

“He asked how I was getting on ... the older man had a cut eye and I asked what had happened to him. He (Breslin) said they had been out drinking and his uncle had fallen,” Ms Cowan added.

Breslin in on trial at the High Court in Edinburgh with Brian Kennedy, 31, and Ian Oliver, 26, and they all deny the culpable homicide of Alex Ormiston, 63, of Rosyth, Fife.

It is alleged they assaulted, abducted and robbed Mr Ormiston, who ran a haulage firm, on 19 May last year, and inflicted injuries from which he died two weeks later in the Western General Hospital, Edinburgh.

Mr Ormiston was repeatedly punched and kicked at his home, it is claimed, and was taken in his car over the Forth Road Bridge to the Bank of Scotland at Newkirkgate, Leith, where he was forced to withdraw £5,000 from his account.

Ms Cowan told the court that Breslin had acted “perfectly normally” in the bank.

Brian McConnachie, QC, for Breslin, asked: “Did he seem shocked to see you, annoyed, worried, anxious?”

Ms Cowan replied: “No.”

The trial continues.