Fire victim ‘named accused as she lay in hospital bed’

Lynsey Methven’s rasping voice whispered “it was Frank” or “it must have been Frank”, said a nurse who recalled her patient’s first words in an intensive care unit at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary.

Two police officers who were at Ms Methven’s bedside then called in detectives to take a statement, the High Court in Edinburgh was told yesterday.

On trial is Ms Methven’s former boyfriend, builder Frank Moore, 43, who denies murder and attempted murder.

He claims he was at his home in Bothwell Street, Edinburgh, when a fire broke out in Ms Methven’s flat in Chalmers Crescent, in the Grange area of the city, on February 7 this year.

Firefighters called to the scene found bookies assistant Ms Methven, 30, in the smoke-filled living room and her new lover, chef Stewart Taylor, 33, lying in the kitchen.

Despite the efforts of firefighters and paramedics at the scene, Mr Taylor died.

Dr Jonathan Carter, 31, described how he and his team in the hospital’s accident and emergency department worked for three-and-a-half hours to treat Ms Methven for the effects of smoke, facial and other injuries she had suffered.

“Was that your job, to bring her back from the brink?” asked advocate depute Gary Allan QC, prosecuting. Dr Carter agreed.

Two days later, staff nurse Eva Small, 45, was helping remove the tube that had been helping Ms Methven to breathe.

Ms Methven wanted to speak to police, she said.

The nurse later told police that her patient had mentioned two names: “Frank” and “Stewart”.

In a later statement, Ms Small told officers: “She seemed really eager to speak and say these names and get it off her chest. I don’t know who these people were.

“The next thing she said was either ‘it was Frank’ or ‘it must have been Frank’. I cannot remember her exact words but she was definitely blaming someone called Frank.”

The trial continues

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