Victim 'most likely shot from distance'

A FIREARMS expert told the Martyn Barclay murder trial that he was most likely shot from two feet or more away.

Giving evidence yesterday, forensic specialist Martin Connolly said: "I can't find anything to support a contact, near contact or close-range shooting from the evidence I have been presented with."

He said he and a colleague were asked by a Lothian and Borders Police detective to provide a range estimate for a gunshot wound suffered by Mr Barclay. He said they found no signs such as scorching, soot deposits or powder tattooing and said they concluded that the muzzle to target distance was most likely to have been 2ft or greater.

Mr Connolly also told the High Court in Edinburgh he looked at a weapon recovered by police which was originally a blank-firing pistol which had been converted into a working gun.

He was giving evidence at the trial of Paul Igoe or Hunter, 37, and his sister Caroline, 32, who have denied murdering her boyfriend Mr Barclay, 26, at Hazelwood Grove, in the Inch on 17 January last year.

The trial before Lord Bracadale continues.