Court told stab victim set alight

A MURDER victim was stabbed to death in Edinburgh then set on fire in a bid to conceal the crime, a trial has heard.

The charred body of 45-year-old Alan Ross was found in his smoke-filled flat in Pilton after a neighbour called the fire brigade earlier this year.

The High Court in Livingston heard yesterday how his clothing had been set alight, and someone had tried to make an improvised firebomb by heating up cans of oil and furniture polish in a microwave.

David Nairne, 26, denies murdering Mr Ross. He also pleaded not guilty to attempting to defeat the ends of justice by setting fire to the dead man’s clothing, trying to make the fire spread faster and disposing of evidence, including the murder weapon.

A fire commander told how he arrived at the property on Pilton Drive North on February 27 after neighbours had phoned 999.

He said Mr Ross’s clothes seemed to have been burned off and there was extensive damage to the victim’s body.

Nairne also denies headbutting Mr Ross in Mathers Bar in Edinburgh nine months earlier, in June 2010.

The trial continues.