Police investigating the disappearance of a Montrose mother-of-three forced their way into a property and were struck by a strong smell of “decomposition,” a murder trial has heard.
Sergeant Colin Cunningham told the High Court in Glasgow how he led a team of officers to a ground-floor flat in William Phillips Drive.
Mr Cunningham said he immediately set up a crime scene at the property after discovering a suspicious suitcase and rucksack in the shower.
Jurors were told that murder accused Michelle Higgins had been given the keys to the property.
She went with her boyfriend David Melville to Aberdeen on the day that body parts were found in wheelie bins around the town centre.
Higgins, 29, and co-accused Steven Jackson, 40, are accused of murdering 37-year-old Kimberley MacKenzie at Jackson’s Market Street flat in October, last year.
The pair are further accused of cutting up her body and hiding the parts in bins.
It is alleged they put Miss MacKenzie’s head and other body parts in a rucksack and suitcase at the William Phillips Drive house.
Mr Cunningham said he was told to visit the house on November 5, while Jackson was helping police with their inquiries.
“We knocked on the door quite loudly, but there was no response” he said. “I had been made aware about concerns for the occupier, so I contacted a joiner and was able to force entry.”
He said: “As soon as we were through the front door, there was a smell which I would associate with decomposition.
“We were concerned about what we might discover.”
He told the court that the smell became worse once the bathroom door was open.
“Within the shower tray there were two bags,” he said. “One was a rucksack and one was a suitcase.
“I insisted that the officers exit the property. We closed the door and I requested one of the officers started maintaining a crime scene log. This meant we had taken control of the premises.”
On the same day, Higgins went to Aberdeen with her new boyfriend, 36-year-old Mr Melville.
Giving evidence by video, he told the court that it was his idea to visit the Granite City to buy heroin.
Days earlier, Mr Melville had helped Higgins leave Jackson’s flat.
Jurors heard that Jackson was on a “weekender” – meaning he was spending the weekend in the cells – when Higgins packed up her property, ready to move out.
“She said she wanted to get away from him,” Mr Melville said.
He met her at the Market Street flat and helped her load her bags into a taxi.
Asked by Higgins’ lawyer Mark Stewart what Higgins would do if faced with a violent situation, Mr Melville said: “She would curl up in a ball… I never saw her act in a way that could be considered violent.”
The trial before Lady Rae continues.
