Murder trial co-accused admits racist abuse in pub

A FORMER co-accused of convicted killer Caroline Igoe in the Martyn Barclay murder trial has appeared in court for hurling racist abuse at two Polish bouncers in a city centre pub.

Kenneth Carruthers admitted shouting racist slurs at the doormen in Shakespeare's bar in Lothian Road as he was thrown out of the pub for being drunk.

The self-confessed alcoholic was fined 150 at Edinburgh Sheriff Court yesterday in a hearing which had been delayed due to his involvement in the murder trial.

On Thursday, Caroline Igoe was sentenced to life with a 20-year minimum jail term for shooting dead her boyfriend outside her home in the Inch's Hazelwood Grove last January.

Her brother Paul Igoe, a drinking buddy of Carruthers, was given six years for disposing of the handgun after Mr Barclay was fatally injured.

Carruthers was acquitted of firearms charges and attempting to pervert the course of justice during the trial after the Crown withdrew the charges.

He then gave evidence for the prosecution when he admitted "chumming" a relative of the Igoes to bury the murder weapon in Craigmillar Castle Park.

During his evidence, Carruthers said that he could barely remember going to the park as he was in a drunken haze.

The court heard yesterday that Carruthers, of Milton Bridge in Penicuik, Midlothian, had sought help from a GP over his drinking problem and was now attending Alcoholics Anonymous.

Fiscal depute Aidan Higgins told the court that Carruthers had been drinking in Shakespeare's on 25 October, 2008.

He had been asked to leave the bar and was being escorted out when he turned at the door and began shouting racial slurs at the two Polish doormen.

The police were called and Carruthers was arrested.

Carruthers' defence agent, Nigel Bruce, said: "My client has been attending his GP and Alcoholics Anonymous and is aware that it's an ongoing process.

"He's a self-employed painter and decorator, but as a result of the High Court case he was involved with and the economic downturn, he's not been working. He does have a job fixed up, though, for the near future."

Sheriff Roderick MacLeod fined Carruthers' 150.

A manager at Shakespeare's said the bar did not wish to comment on the case.

The Martyn Barclay murder trial heard that Carruthers had been out drinking heavily in city centre bars with Paul Igoe on the night before the shooting.

Carruthers returned to Igoe's home on Walter Scott Avenue in the early hours of 17 January last year and witnessed Caroline Igoe and Martyn Barclay arguing over money.

After passing out, he told the court he was wakened by Paul Igoe returning to the home with spots of blood on his trainers.

Carruthers later found the gun in a bag in the kitchen. That day, he said he went to Craigmillar Castle Park with an Igoe relative, but told the court: "I didn't see the gun going in the hole."