A security expert was able to get into a sealed-off crime scene hotel in Perth where three bodies were found following a devastating fire, a trial has heard.
Jamie Grierson was able to take cameras from the burned-out hotel after it was secured by police and was being monitored round-the-clock.
An officer from the Major Investigations Team admitted in a trial a second floor window at the New County Hotel had been left ajar because police had been unable to close it after the fatal blaze in January 2023.
Crime scene manager Detective Constable Greg Irvine told Perth Sheriff Court: “The main entrance door was boarded up.
“The ground floor windows and fire exits were all boarded up, along with the first floor as well.
“Uniformed officers remained on point at the main entrance as well.
“The second floor window could not be secured correctly, or at all, so it was left ajar.”
Cameras taken
On January 2 2023, fire swept through the block and claimed the lives of sisters Donna Janse Van Rensburg, 44, and Sharon McLean, 47, from Aberdeen, and Edinburgh man Keith Russell, 38.
CCTV installer Jamie Grierson, 38, is on trial because he denies breaking into the hotel on February 13 and 14 2023 and stealing around 15 internal and external surveillance units, installed prior to the triple tragedy.
Mr Irvine went on: “All the internal CCTV cameras had been removed from their locations, except one in the function room, and on checking the rear car park the camera was missing from there also.
“(The window) was potentially more ajar than it had been previously.
“It was the only area I felt anyone could have gained access into the hotel.”
He said he believed a total of 13 cameras – installed by security expert Grierson – had been removed while the hotel was supposed to have been locked down.
Entered hotel through window
The trial has heard how Grierson did not deny going back into the hotel to retrieve the cameras after the hotel owners failed to pay him for his work.
He decided to clamber back inside after it had been taped off as a crime scene.
Grierson told police he had not initially been aware of the extent of the tragedy.
He said: “It had been taped off at the front. I thought about going round and talking to police to let them know what my intentions were and why I was there.
“I took the wrong approach. I put my ladder up and took the (external) camera down.”
He said he returned the following day, dressed in black, and climbed into the hotel through a window.
“I came to retrieve my cameras from inside the hotel. I thought about asking the police to allow me to gain entry which I knew wasn’t going to happen.”
He denied being a thief, pointing out he could have taken other items including laptops had he wanted to.
He told police: “I wasn’t there to take anything that wasn’t rightfully mine.
“I didn’t know the extent of the fire. When I went back the second time I saw the memorial flowers.
“About the deaths – I felt I needed to come and speak to you to let you know my side of the story. I became aware how bad the case was.”
‘Hell hole’ hotel
Grierson, from Cardenden, said the hotel was infested with flies, had electric cables hanging loose and had turned over one of its public rooms to homeless people.
Witness Lia Payne, 48, had been in a relationship with the accused around the time of the alleged thefts.
She told the court: “He was telling me about all the problems there.
“He showed me photos of rats. It was a hell hole.
“He talked about junkies and prostitutes coming in through the back door.”
She said Grierson was not shocked when he heard about the fatal fire.
“He wasn’t surprised because he had seen the state of the place. He was livid.
“He had expressed his concerns to the owner about the condition of the hotel numerous times but nothing was ever done.”
The trial before Sheriff Clair McLachlan continues.
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