A WAR hero died on his 64th wedding anniversary after he allegedly resisted a thief who was trying to steal his wallet, a court has heard.
John Gillespie, 88, was taking a stroll along a riverside to look at the daffodils when a man stepped in front of him, a the High Court in Edinburgh heard. Mr Gillespie tried to fend off the man with a walking stick and ended up on the ground.
He required surgery for a broken hip, but he went into a steady decline and died in hospital about a week later.
James Duguid, 51, of Stirling, denies attempting to rob and murdering Mr Gillespie, also of Stirling, in April 2011.
It is claimed he demanded the pensioner hand over his wallet, and pushed and pulled him at an underpass at the junction of Lovers Walk and Riverside in the town. He allegedly hit him with the walking stick, and dragged him along the ground.
Yesterday, Mr Gillespie's grandson Mark Cassidy, 41, told the court he recalled his "papa" being in very good spirits when he saw him about a day or two before the incident.
Mr Cassidy said his grandfather had been "no shrinking violet" and it did not surprise him that he had offered resistance.
Mr Gillespie's son John, 57, told the court that his father was a former Royal Navy sailor who had been mentioned in despatches for his conduct during the Second World War.
The trial continues.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article