Prisoner ‘told he would get parole if he made up evidence’

A PRISONER was told he would be guaranteed parole if he fabricated evidence against one of the Lynda Spence murder accused, a trial has heard.

Mark Ferguson said his friend and fellow inmate Peter Haddley asked him to make up lies about Colin Coats, who shared their wing while on remand at Addiewell prison, West Lothian.

Mr Ferguson, 37, told of his “dilemma” as he gave evidence at the High Court in Glasgow, where Coats and another man are on trial for the abduction and murder of missing 27-year-old financial adviser Ms Spence.

The prisoner from Clydebank said: “He [Haddley] said he’d spoken to police and Colin was already a scapegoat and the police had already told him that, and if I fabricated evidence against Colin I’d be guaranteed my next parole.

“Straight off, I told him I wasn’t interested. I felt as though he was kicking a man while he was down.”

The defence witness said he kept the alleged offer to himself until a priest at the jail suggested he go to the authorities.

Ferguson, who is serving time for attempted murder, said he thought if he came forward “it would probably be in the newspapers – which was the last thing I wanted”.

It was this “or let an innocent man have lies told against him”, he said. “That was my dilemma.”

Prosecution witness Mr Haddley, 26, told the court previously that Coats, 42, confessed to killing Ms Spence and said he disposed of her body in a furnace.

Solicitor General Lesley Thomson, prosecuting, said to Ferguson: “The purpose of your being here today was to do anything you can to help Mr Coats.”

The witness replied: “I think you’re wrong there. This is the last thing I wanted to do, to come to court.”

Coats is accused with Philip Wade, 42, of abducting Ms Spence in April 2011 and holding her prisoner at a flat for up to a fortnight, where it is alleged they tortured her.

The men deny all the charges.

Coats, who provided short-term loans to Ms Spence, has admitted he “despised” her after being left out of pocket over a financial deal.

He maintains he did not hold her prisoner at the flat in West Kilbride, Ayrshire, but that she had arranged to stay at the “safe house” herself after receiving threats from a business associate.

Coats said the attic of the property in Meadowfoot Road, West Kilbride, was a “cannabis factory”.

Coats also suggested that prosecution witnesses, who have spoken of his threatening behaviour, had been put under pressure by police.

The trial continues.