Accused 'calm' after severed head found

MURDER accused Alan Cameron told colleagues that a human head had been found on a nearby path as if "talking about the weather", it was claimed yesterday.

Sales assistant Megan Nolan, 22, told the High Court in Livingston the father of two was "completely calm" despite the remains being found yards from the Spar shop where he worked on Hogmanay 2008.

Cameron is on trial at the High Court in Livingston over the murder of Heather Stacey, 44. He admits cutting up her body and leaving it dumped in various locations around Edinburgh's Granton area, but denies murder.

Miss Nolan told the court:

"I can't remember if it had been on the news or if a customer had come in and said about it.

"He just told me like it was just talking about the weather. It just came naturally.

"He was completely calm."

The court was told that Cameron, 56, got a job at the Spar in Edinburgh's Lindsay Road on 11 September, 2008, nine months after prosecutors say he killed Ms Stacey.

Before her remains were discovered, he would show colleagues pictures of Ms Stacey and tell them about buying her flowers and taking her to the cinema. He was once found having a phone row late in 2008 and told Miss Nolan that it had been Ms Stacey on the line, the court heard.

In October 2008, Cameron called work to tell them his daughter had been in a car crash and he later said she had died of a heart attack. But the story was a lie.

Assistant Arlene Baillie, 39, said that she also noticed a funny smell coming from Cameron in December 2008, the month when Ms Stacey's remains were discovered.

The former nursing assistant said it was similar to the smell caused when maggots attacked gangrene.

She said: "He asked for cash-back for a customer, which meant I had to kneel down and I could smell it off the lower part of his trousers. There is no other smell like it."

Earlier, a council worker told the court how when he was called to change locks on the victim's flat in Edinburgh's Royston Mains Place over rent arrears, he was greeted by a terrible smell.

Joiner Glenn Walker, 48, said: "There was a very strong odour coming from the property. Over the years working for the council I have come across quite a few dead bodies.

"I opened the door and said 'It smells like there is something dead, a cat or something'. I know the smell of dead bodies and it was very similar."

Cameron admits hiding Ms Stacey's body at her home for over a year before chopping up her body and dumping the parts.

He stole almost 5,000 from her Post Office account while hiding her corpse and lied about hearing from her. But he denies murdering her.

Charity worker Catherine Reid, 44, had been helping Heather rebuild her life after meeting her in September 2007.

But a text on 11 December from Ms Stacey's mobile was the last contact she ever got from her phone.

The message said Ms Stacey had had to go to Glasgow after her boyfriend Alan Cameron's daughter had suffered a heart attack.

Miss Reid, who works for homeless charity Foursquare, never heard from Ms Stacey again and closed her file in May 2008.

She said she assumed that Ms Stacey was still in Glasgow.

Cameron now admits that he in fact sent the text, pretending to be Ms Stacey.

The trial before Judge Lord Matthews continues.