A COUSIN denied knowing about the house fire in which Thomas Sharkey and his two children died before it happened.
Michael Sharkey, 27, from Helensburgh, was accused by defence QC Donald Findlay of saying to people hours before the blaze that he had a secret and they would find out the next day.
Mr Sharkey, a cousin of Thomas Sharkey senior, denied having anything to do with the fatal fire when he gave evidence at the High Court in Glasgow.
Scott Snowden, 37, and Robert Jennings, 50, deny murdering Mr Sharkey, 55, his son 21-year-old Thomas junior and his eight year-old daughter Bridget at their home at 2 Scott Court, Helensburgh, Argyll, in July 24, 2011.
Mr Sharkey told advocate depute Alex Prentice QC, prosecuting, that at the time he and Thomas Sharkey were not speaking.
He told the jury they had a heated argument in the Ashton Bar in Helensburgh in January or February 2011 after Mr Sharkey said he would not attend Michael Sharkey's sister's wedding.
The court heard that on the night of July 23, 2011, Michael Sharkey drank at least 14 pints and consumed cocaine.
During the evening and night he visited a number of people in the Kirkmichael area of Helensburgh.
He said the first time he knew anything about the fire was about 9am on July 24, 2011, when he and other relatives began receiving phone calls about the tragedy.
Mr Sharkey denied suggestions from Mr Findlay, representing Snowden, that he had turned up at George Murray's house the night before the fire, agitated, saying he had something to tell him, and he would "find out tomorrow".
Mr Sharkey denied he knew something "very, very bad was going to happen".
In response to questioning from Mr Prentice if he had known about the fire, Mr Sharkey said: "I would have gone straight to the police and told Thomas himself, but I had no knowledge."
The jury also heard of a police statement given by Ian Kyle, a friend of Snowden, who has since died. In this, Mr Kyle said he was asked by Snowden to buy petrol.
Mr Kyle said he bought £3 worth of petrol and was told to leave it outside his flat in East Clyde Street.
Under-cross examination by Mr Findlay, Sgt Laura Carnochan agreed there was no independent evidence to back up what Mr Kyle said.
Snowden and Jennings denied setting fire to the Mariners pub in West Clyde Street, Helensburgh, on April 19, 2010. The trial before Lord Matthews 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