Accused says evidence is coincidental

A GARAGE boss accused of stealing seating for spectator stands at the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo has dismissed all the evidence against him as coincidental.

Colin Jackson denied travelling to Warrington in Cheshire to buy an HGV tractor unit used in the theft. He said a witness who had identified him as one of three Scots who paid for the green cab unit was “mistaken”.

Jackson, of Barrmill, Ayrshire, was giving evidence at Livingston Sheriff Court, where he denies forcing open a storage yard in Livingston, West Lothian, and taking two HGV trailers loaded with the 20-tonne steel assemblies on May 22, 2011.

He has lodged special defences of alibi and incrimination.

Jackson, 39, refuted suggestions that he had made his land available for around 40 tonnes of the stolen steel to be dismantled and buried.

He claimed “everybody and his granny” had access to storage hangars at Gate End Farm, near Barrmill, because the gates had been jammed open for years.

The jury is expected to
consider its verdict today.