Man cleared of killing was 'too scared to help Lynda'

Wednesday 13 March 2013

A MAN cleared of killing a missing businesswoman told a murder trial he was afraid of what would happen to him if he phoned for help after she was tied to a chair.

MISSING: Lynda Spence has not been seen since April 2011.

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Christine Lavelle

Paul Smith, 47, said at the High Court in Glasgow he was a coward for not calling the police as he guarded Lynda Spence, 27, at a flat in West Kilbride, North Ayrshire.

Smith was previously charged with murder along with Colin Coats, Philip Wade and David Parker, 38, but he and Parker had their pleas of not guilty accepted by the Crown when they admitted assaulting Ms Spence and attempting to defeat the ends of justice.

Giving evidence against Coats and Wade yesterday, Smith said his understanding was that the woman was in danger because she had people looking for her.However, the court heard when Ms Spence was brought to Parker's flat in the town's Meadowfoot Road on April 14, 2011, it was a different situation completely.Smith said Ms Spence was bound to a chair by her arms and waist with silver tape, with her feet taped together and she was wearing dark sunglasses which were taped inside.During the first few days when she was held in the attic, Ms Spence told Smith that Coats had cut off the tip of her little finger and crushed her little toe with loppers, which Wade had brought with him in a bag, jurors heard.Smith said he heard Coats say to her: "This is an abduction Lynda."He told the court: "It was a cowardly act not to phone the police, on my behalf. The fear factor had set in with what was going on. We were involved in it, we were in the fold."I didn't know what Mr Coats and Mr Wade were capable of. I thought it was easier just to do what Mr Coats said, and not argue with him. I quite liked my fingers the way they were."When asked by Solicitor General Lesley Thomson, QC, if the woman had asked to be let go, he replied: "Lynda Spence never asked to be let go in the whole time she was there."Smith said Ms Spence was not allowed to move or use the toilet for 13 days and had to make use of a biscuit tin underneath her chair.Smith said that in the almost two weeks Ms Spence was in the flat, he was aware she had her thumb cut off by Coats, as well as being burned with an iron on both of her hands and having her shins hit with a golf club.He said there was one occasion, on April 26, when Coats came to the property without Wade.Coats had gone upstairs to see Ms Spence for about 10 minutes and when he came down he was gesturing to his thumb and then to his pocket, the witness said.Smith told the court: "I heard a noise [from upstairs], it was like a muffle."Obviously it was Lynda Spence. It sounded like somebody was getting hurt, maybe like he had put a pillow over her face or something."Colin came down the stairs and he came into the living room where me and David were."He made a gesture that he had something in his pocket. I could hear a plastic bag crumpling in his front pocket and he was moving his thumb up and down."When we went up I saw her hand – where the thumb would be, there wasn't anything."It was done up with white surgical tape; you could see there was no thumb underneath that. I was horrified."Ms Spence has not been seen since April 2011.Coats and Wade, both 42, deny kidnapping, torturing and murdering her.Smith and Parker will be sentenced at a later date.The trial, before Lord Pentland, continues.

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Man cleared of killing was 'too scared to help Lynda'

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