A MAN accused of murdering a missing businesswoman confessed to killing her and said he disposed of her body in a furnace, a court has heard.
Peter Haddley, 26, said he and Colin Coats were friends while prisoners in Addiewell jail, West Lothian, after Coats was arrested on suspicion of murdering Lynda Spence, who disappeared in April 2011.
Mr Haddley said Coats told him he had "cut off her head" and he had to increase the temperature of the furnace he had put her body in because there was "still parts of it left".
At the High Court in Glasgow – where Coats, 42, is on trial along with three co-accused, Paul Smith, 47, David Parker, 38, and Philip Wade, 42 – the witness also said he was asked to arrange a reported sighting of Ms Spence in Manchester.
The four men deny kidnapping Ms Spence, 27, holding her at a flat in West Kilbride, North Ayrshire, and torturing her before murdering her.
Mr Haddley said he and Coats exchanged letters which were written in code, referring to their arrangement to organise a sighting of the missing woman as "the game".
Solicitor general Lesley Thomson, prosecuting, asked Mr Haddley what Coats told him about Ms Spence.
He replied: "I was told he had killed her in a flat and disposed of her body in a furnace."
Mr Haddley said he was to get in touch with a solicitor he knew and ask him to report a sighting of Lynda Spence in Manchester.
He told the court that although he agreed to do it, he took no steps to make the arrangement.
Letters exchanged between the two prisoners were later seized by police.
The trial before Lord Pentland 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