Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Steven Donaldson murder trial: Jurors sent out to consider verdict

Jurors in the Steven Donaldson murder trial have retired to consider their verdicts.

Following 19 days of evidence during a case which got under way at the High Court in Edinburgh on April 1, the panel of eight women and seven men were sent out by trial judge Lord Pentland shortly after noon on Thursday to begin their deliberations.

Steven Dickie, Callum Davidson and Tasmin Glass all deny murdering 27-year-old Arbroath oil worker Mr Donaldson on June 6 or 7 last year.

Glass, 20, and Dickie and Davidson, both 24, all from Kirriemuir, face a single charge of arranging to meet Mr Donaldson at Kirriemuir’s Peter Pan playpark on June 6 or 7 last year, attacking him there, transporting him to Loch of Kinnordy, near Kirriemuir, where he was further attacked with a baseball bat, knife and a heavy bladed instrument, setting him and his car on fire and murdering him.

Six other charges on the indictment involving Dickie and Davidson were dropped by the Crown earlier in the proceedings.


>> Keep up to date with the latest news with The Courier newsletter


In the duration of the trial, the jury heard evidence from more than 50 witnesses.

All three accused also took the stand to give evidence in their own defence in the trial’s closing stages.

The jury was also presented with seven joint minutes of evidence agreed by the Crown and defence, matters which the High Court heard shortened the trial’s duration by around a fortnight.

Lord Pentland told the jury that in considering the substantial amount of evidence before them the must “entirely put out of your minds any pre-conceptions or prejudices one way or the other.”

“You must not allow your judgment to be swayed at all by feelings of sympathy.”

He said emotions of “disapproval or revulsion must be put entirely aside.”

The trial judge explained to the jurors the concept of doctrine of concert, or art and part.

“A common enterprise is not necessarily one planned in advance, on the contrary it can have occurred spontaneously,” he said.

Lord Pentland also addressed the jury on the charge of culpable homicide, which Tasmin Glass’s senior counsel, Mark Stewart QC, had made reference to in his closing speech.

Culpable homicide, the judge said, occurred where the death of another person “has been caused by an unlawful act which is culpable or blameworthy.”

Lord Pentland added: “That unlawful act must be intentional, or at least reckless or grossly careless.”