Man accused of Jenny Methven murder said he found victim on floor

Published on 17/08/2012 00:00

THE man accused of murdering Jenny Methven told a court yesterday that he found the pensioner badly injured in her home on the day she died.

• Accused says he found Mrs Methven on floor and that she said her son’s name twice

• Kean said he did not report incident as he feared he would be blamed for murder

William Kean, 46, described how he found Mrs Methven, 80, lying on the kitchen floor with towels over her head. The 46-year-old is charged with murdering the pensioner at her cottage near Forteviot on

20 February, which he denies.

He told the High Court in Glasgow: “I never murdered Mrs Methven”. He also claimed that her son David had threatened to kill him if he went to the police.

Asked why he did not call the emergency services, Kean said he was afraid he would get the blame for what had happened.

Kean, from Blairgowrie told defence QC Brian McConnachie that on February 20 he went to Mrs Methven’s Perthshire cottage to collect paperwork and two tyres that his friend David Methven had left there for him.

Kean said said he arrived at the cottage at 10:50am. He said: “I knocked on the door and got no answer.”

The court was told Kean went into the kitchen where he saw Mrs Methven lying on the floor. Kean said: “I though she had just fallen. I went forward into the kitchen and noticed there were towels on her head. I bent down and said, ‘Mrs Methven what’s happened to you?’.

“All I heard her say was, ‘David, David’. That’s all I could make out.”

The defence QC asked: “Why did you not phone 999?” and Kean said: “When she said, ‘David, David’ I thought, ‘Has he done something to her?’ and because I was on my own I panicked and thought I would get the blame.”

He was asked what he did do and replied: “I looked at Mrs Methven and just left the house.”

The court was told that Kean, a handyman, then drove to Broughty Ferry where he had a cup of coffee and chatted to two of his workmen.

Mr McConnachie asked him how he could carry on as normal and Kean told him: “I tried not to show any emotion that day, but I was quite cut up by it.”

He was asked why he did not go to the police when it emerged that Mrs Methven had been murdered. Kean said her son had asked him not to.

Kean claimed Mr Methven said he knew who had killed his mother. He added: “He said, ‘It’s druggie friends, but it’s all sorted’. He told me he would have me done in if I opened my mouth.”

Kean claimed Mr Methven had offered him £30,000 a year for three years to keep quiet.

The trial continues.