Man admits killing 87-year-old OAP

Oct 31 2008 by Johnathon Menzies, Perthshire Advertiser Friday

A MAN accused of murdering a pensioner by leaving her in a Perthshire wood after a terror drive has admitted that he killed her.

John Lawson (48) appeared at the High Court in Edinburgh this week – and admitted that he killed 87-year-old Dolina MacLean, a retired mental health nurse who lived with her sister in Duchess Street, Stanley.

But the Crown refused to accept his guilty plea to a charge of culpable homicide.

He will now face trial on the murder charge in February.

He has denied abducting and murdering Ms MacLean on May 30 and, later, attempting to defeat the ends of justice .

The indictment alleges that he got into the pensioner’s vehicle in the car park of Tesco’s Crieff Road store on May 30, 2008, demanded that she drive off and placed her in a state of fear and alarm.

It is alleged that the car was later parked at a farm access on the Moneydie-Bankfoot road.

He is then accused of assaulting the woman “by means unknown,” dragging her from the car and trying to force her up a woodland path.

The charge further alleges that he dragged her into Saddlebrae Wood and abandoned her there in a state of unconsciousness or death.

It is also alleged that he failed to get medical help for her and, with “wicked and reckless disregard” for the consequences of his actions, as to whether she lived or died, he murdered her.

A second charge alleges that between May 30 and June 6, Lawson hired a van, collected her body and drove to an area known locally as Knowehead Woodland, about five miles from Dunning.

There it is alleged that he put her into a drainage ditch, concealed her body, and her belongings, with soil and other debris.

Defence QC Gordon Jackson told the court: “What happened here, in terms of what Lawson did, is not a matter of dispute.

“What happened medically – how this lady died – is a matter of difficulty.”

The trial is expected to last up to 12 days.