The severed head of a missing mother-of-three was found inside a suitcase at an empty flat in Montrose, a murder trial has heard.
The head was wrapped in two bin liners and tied up with a necklace.
Police forced their way into the property at William Phillips Drive and found the suitcase and a pink rucksack hidden inside a shower unit.
The grim discovery was made on November 5, last year – just days after Kimberley MacKenzie was reported missing.
Steven Jackson, 40, and Michelle Higgins, 28, deny murdering Miss McKenzie and cutting up her body.
The pair are further accused of disposing of body parts in bins around the town.
Jurors heard that Higgins was found with a key to the William Phillips Drive property when she was detained by police In Aberdeen.
Detective Constable Victor Whyte told the court that the suitcase and rucksack were taken from the flat to Dundee mortuary for examination.
He said they were carefully opened by scientists, biologists and forensic officers.
Mr Whyte said that inside the suitcase was Miss MacKenzie’s head and two thighs.
Jurors were shown pictures of the black bags found inside the case.
The bag containing the head was knotted and had a necklace looped around the end, Mr Whyte said.
Inside the pink rucksack was more bags containing Miss MacKenzie’s left knee and lower leg and her left arm and hand.
Lady Rae warned jurors and members of the public before showing a photograph of a hand inside a thin plastic bag.
Another image showed blood stains and damage to the rucksack.
Murray Pete, a mark enhancement recovery officer for the Scottish Police Authority, said that a fingerprint was found under the knot on the back which contained the head.
He said further prints were found on a Skean Dhu dagger, which was recovered by police from behind a box in Jackson’s living room.
More fingerprints were found on a steam cleaner at the property.
The trial heard that Higgins was detained by police in Aberdeen on November 6, the day after the body parts were discovered.
Detective Constable Kim Duncan, 31, said that her colleagues had traced Higgins, and her boyfriend David Melville, to Market Street in the city centre.
As she sat in the back of the car, Higgins burst into tears. She told DC Duncan she understood why she was being detained. “It’s that lassie Kim,” she said. “It’s common knowledge that she had been murdered.”
Higgins went on tell how Jackson had been Miss MacKenzie’s boyfriend and that she herself had also been in a relationship with Jackson for about three weeks.
Higgins said she had gathered her belongings and left Jackson’s house days earlier, when he was spending a weekend in the cells.
She added: “It happened on Monday.”
DC Duncan said: “I didn’t know what she was referring to and I didn’t ask her about it.”
But when questioned about what she said to DC Duncan during a police interview, she said: “I never said it happened on Monday. I never said he murdered anybody on Monday.”
Accused: “It’s the end of the world”
After he was detained by police, Steven Jackson told an officer: “It’s the end of the world.”
Police Inspector David Small, 40, said he visited Jackson in his cell on November 5.
The court heard that Jackson had voluntarily attended at the police station in Montrose in the early hours of that morning.
He was later moved to a custody suite in Dundee.
Insp Small said he was called in to process an application to extend Jackson’s detention from 12 to 24 hours.
Mr Small said that he had been told Jackson was unfit for interview “due to episodes of psychosis.”
He was told this may have been “alcohol induced.”
Asked if he wanted to respond to the time extension, Jackson replied: “It’s the end of the world.”
The trial also heard that Higgins was given a medical examination prior to her police interview.
Under cross examination by Mark Stewart QC – representing Higgins – Detective Constable Nicola Annan said she was present during the check and noticed an injury on Higgin’s body, possibly the left thigh.
“She had SJ scratched into her skin,” she said.
The trial continues.
