MURDERED prostitute Diane McInally was named in a special defence of
incrimination at a court case in Glasgow yesterday when Michael Crosbie
was
accused of the reset of a handbag and its contents.
The offence took place in May of last year, five months before Miss
McInally's battered body was found in Pollok Park. Police believe she
may have been picked up by a client in the Anderston area, a known haunt
of prostitutes, before being killed.
Despite an intense police investigation no one has appeared in court
over her death. A 27-year-old man was charged in March, but freed
without
appearing in court.
At Glasgow District Court yesterday, defence solicitor, Mr Joseph
Beltrami, said his client Crosbie, 39, of Prospecthill Circus, Toryglen,
Glasgow, was not responsible for the handbag, but that it was the late
Miss McInally who was responsible for resetting the items.
Police witnesses said that Miss McInally had been in the house which
Crosbie was living in at the time. When they identified themselves at
the door as police they heard Crosbie shout ''Stu, it's the police,''
the court was told.
Police rushed in to see a Mr William Stewart throw a black object out
of the flat's window, it was claimed, and the bag, stolen from a car
earlier in the week, was recovered from the ground outside.
Mr Stewart, who was originally charged with Crosbie, has since died.
Crosbie said Mr Stewart was staying with him as he was dying of Aids and
had nowhere else to go.
In his defence, Crosbie claimed that he had found the bag in the flat
earlier in the day, realised it had been stolen, and threw it out of the
window. He said that Miss McInally occasionally used the flat for a wash
and to change clothes. He knew the bag did not belong to her because of
the name on documents within it, and he was angry with her for bringing
it into the flat in the first place.
He claimed that the reason he called out to Mr Stewart was not for him
to get rid of the bag, but because Mr Stewart had been smoking cannabis.
This was disputed by fiscal Chris Macintosh, who asked Crosbie if he
really believed that three experienced police officers would have failed
to notice the smell of cannabis being smoked.
Stipendiary magistrate Neil Boyd found Crosbie guilty and fined him
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