D Jamieson tele news 29/10 court. Dundee Sheriff Court.
David Barker was this afternoon found guilty of the murder of Robbie Thomson.
Sentence was deferred to the high court in Edinburgh next month.
The jury at the high court in Dundee decided that Barker (25) had caused Thomson’s death at Coupar Angus last March not by culpable homicide but by murder.
Barker was was charged with repeatedly stabbing Thomson to his severe injury and the danger of his life, and throwing him into or abandoning him at the Coupar Burn where his body was found.
A further charge of raping a young woman in Coupar Angus was found not proven.
The jury heard evidence over nine days. Summing up the case this morning, the trial judge Lady Clark of Calton said even though it was clearly accepted by David Barker that he killed Robbie Thomson that was not sufficient and the Crown still had to prove that he did.
However she said the fact that Barker admitted killing 17-year-old Robbie would enable the jury to focus on the question of whether the Crown had proved sufficient evidence to establish murder.For extensive coverage of the verdict, and the background to the case, see Tuesday’s Courier.
