‘No sense of dignity’ for victim left to die in lift

TWO men who admitted killing a man and dumping his semi-naked body in a lift denied their victim “the slightest sense of dignity in his final moments”, police have said.

The High Court in Glasgow heard that Simon Brown and Paul Banks dragged victim John Carter, 44, who was wearing a handcuff on his left wrist, out of their flat in Salamander Court after attacking him.

Yesterday Brown, 41, and Banks, 48, who were originally charged with murdering Mr Carter on February 26 or 27 last year, admitted a reduced charged of culpable homicide.

They pleaded guilty to placing a pair of handcuffs on his wrists, repeatedly punching and kicking him on the head and body, placing a plastic bag over his head, assaulting him by means unknown to the prosecutor, robbing him of his wallet and contents, placing him in a lift and failing to seek medical attention and killing him.

The court was told that Mr Carter was openly gay and began chatting to the accused, whom he had never met before, in the Port o’Leith pub.

Both the accused denied that any sexual activity took place with Mr Carter.

Advocate depute Alan Nicol, prosecuting, said: “In the pub Brown was buying drinks for both Banks and Mr Carter. Mr Carter confided in the barmaid that he was flattered by the attention he was receiving and that Banks had kissed him.”

The court heard that Banks left the pub alone and Brown and Mr Carter followed a few minutes later. Mr Carter was heading off to his home at Cables Wynd House, Leith, when Brown invited him to the flat he shared with Banks for a drink.

They arrived at the flat at 11pm. At 3.19am other residents of the block of flats on their way home from a night out saw legs protruding from the lift on the ground floor.

It was Mr Cater, who was wearing only a pair of denims, which were at his ankles. They also saw that he had a single toy handcuff on his left wrist.

An ambulance was phoned, but efforts to revive Mr Cater were unsuccessful.

When police examined Brown and Banks’ flat they found Mr Carter’s underwear and a single handcuff lying in the hallway. There were also 11 bank and ID cards in the name John Carter lying on the floor at the side of the bed and his glasses were nearby.

When Brown was searched he was found to be in possession of Mr Carter’s wallet.

Following the plea, Detective Chief Inspector Sara Buchanan, who led the inquiries, said: “John Carter suffered a number of painful injuries and was not provided with any medical assistance.

“The nature of his death and the manner in which he was found shows a lack of compassion from those responsible, who could not even afford him the slightest sense of dignity in his final moments.”

Temporary judge Michael O’Grady deferred sentence for background reports.