Lynda Spence murder accused ‘admitted killing man’

ONE of the men accused of murdering a missing businesswoman told a friend he killed someone with a hammer and chopped them up, a court has heard.

Lee Winyard, 41, said Philip Wade came to visit him with another man named Colin Coats in Tighnabruaich, Argyll, on 29 April, 2011, where he had been staying in a caravan with his friend Wilma Cairns and his daughter.

Mr Winyard said he picked the men up in his car from a cafe in the village and, as they drove back to the caravan, Wade told him he was “in a bit of bother” because someone had been following him.

Mr Winyard was giving evidence at the trial of Wade, 42, Coats, 42, David Parker, 38, and Paul Smith, 47, who are accused of abducting, torturing and murdering missing financial adviser Lynda Spence, which they all deny.

“He said he had managed to get the guy off-guard and cracked him with a baseball bat and finished him off with a hammer. He said, ‘then what happened was I chopped him up’,” Mr Wade said.

He initially believed the men were playing a prank on him, but it dawned on him that it was more serious when they started asking to get out on a boat, the witness told jurors.

“I started to realise what this could mean. I was like, ‘this is not right’.”

Solicitor General Lesley Thomson asked: “What did you think you were being asked to do?”

“To dispose of a body,” he replied.

The trial continues.