Dying man was found by girlfriend

Published on 23/08/2012 12:00

A BARMAID has told a murder trial that she found her boyfriend dying after an alleged hammer attack.

A beer keg was also used in the fatal attack on David McCardle, 40, it is claimed.

Jurors at the High Court in Edinburgh yesterday heard girlfriend Paula Cassidy’s pleas for help during a 999 call.

“There was a fight in the pub with a hammer and he got hit with the hammer,” she told the emergency services.

Ms Cassidy, 23, described how they were in the pub where she works in Musselburgh when trouble broke out. .

At some point Mr McCardle went outside but she could not remember why, the court heard, and Ms Cassidy went to look for him.

The trial heard that Mr McCardle was lying face down in a vennel beside the pub – then known as The Clubhouse Public Bar – in Musselburgh’s North High Street.

Ross Tait, 22, and Ryan Cameron, 25, both of Musselburgh, deny murder and serious assault on August 12 last year. They claim they were acting in self-defence and to 
protect each other.

The trial continues.