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Murder trial “star witness” was wrong, jury is told     31/5/13

The prosecution’s “star witness” Dominic Long “got it wrong” when he testified that Stefan Millar “confessed” to the murder of Liam Aitchison, a jury has been told at a murder trial in Glasgow.

The pair were sharing a cell at Porterfield Prison, Inverness, soon after the death of Liam Aitchison when Mr Millar was in remand custody.

Stefan Millar,22, of Carloway, Lewis, and Johnathan Mackinnon, 22, of Stornoway, deny murdering Liam Aitchison in November 2011.

Defence lawyer QC Frances Macmenin said prosecutor Iain McSporran claimed Mr Long’s evidence was “utterly compelling” but he “stopped short of saying he was also utterly unreliable.”

Ms McMenamin said Mr Long had ADHD, a condition which often means sufferers are unable to grasp or recall the detail of a conversation.

Stefan Millar was simply recounting the allegations the police claimed against him, she told the jury.

“Without Dominic Long’s evidence there is no Crown case against Stefan Millar here,” said the QC.

Mr Millar told Mr Long just what the police were claiming what he had done, she said.

Dominic Long missed out “three wee words” - that “the police said” - from Mr Millar’s conversation and “we end up with a “confession” to murder.”

“It’s as simple as that.

“Sheer commonsense tells us if you are half listening , distracted, pacing about, withdrawing from drugs, got untreatable ADHD - there’s every chance you get it wrong,” she said.

Despite Mr Long’s lifestyle of drug addiction, ADHD and “appalling (criminal) record for a 16-year-old,  the Crown “would have you believe that Stefan Millar, on that very day, chooses him, a 16-year-old total stranger with obvious and serious problems in his own life, that he confesses to Dominic Long,” said the QC.

She added that though police had interviewed hundreds of people during the investigation yet “there is not one other person able to come forward into court” to claim Mr Millar did it.

The cellmate had said he told the police because the murder “was wrong,” yet had failed to come forward voluntarily, she continued.

If police had not gone to see him “you might not have heard a single word  about it.”

Mr Long was still on valium and on detox, when he spoke to police and even “had to be threatened with the jail when in the witness box,” she said.

“Dominic Long’s evidence is just a piece of made up exaggeration of what he was actually told,” said the QC.

And it missed out details which could be expected in a confession such as the number of times they were supposed to have stabbed Liam, how they coped in the dark, how they got in and out of the derelict house, about removing Liam’s clothes, she said.

In addition, there was nothing about specific injuries, she added.

The QC said the absence of such details showed that Mr Long was recounting what Stefan Millar said it was - only what the police were accusing him of.

She stressed the  Crown’s case comes unstuck” due to the lack of “lack of detail” in Dominic Long’s account.

The trial continues.