Stefan Millar denies murdering friend 28/5/13
A Lewis man accused of killing Liam Aitchison has denied murdering him or having
anything to do with the teenager’s death.
Stefan Millar, 22, of Carloway, Lewis, said Liam was alive and went off on his own
when he last saw him in the early hours of 23 November 2011, the day the prosecution
alleged Liam was murdered by being repeatedly hit on the head and body with a knife
and bottle and repeatedly kicked and stamped on his head.
Stefan Millar and Johnathan Mackinnon, 22, of Stornoway, deny murdering the 16-year-old
from Lochboisdale in a derelict house in Steinish outside Stornoway.
Stefan Millar took the stand this morning in the trial before judge Lord Kinclaven
in Glasgow High Court.
His defence counsel Frances McMenamin QC asked: “Did you murder Liam Aitchison?
Mr Millar replied: “No, I never.”
Ms McMenamin asked: “Did you play any part in his murder the attack on him which
resulted in his death.
“Did you play any part in the attack on him which resulted in his death.”
Mr Millar: “No. None at all.”
Mr Millar said he has never been at the rundown property where Liam died.
He also denied ever saying to former cell mate Dominic Long that he bottled and stabbed
Liam and murdered him.
Stefam Millar told the court he lived with his grandmother in Carloway since he was
about 10 years old and went t the local primary school, then Shawbost secondary and
the Nicolson Institute. His mother stays in Invergordon and his granny recently moved
to the mainland.
Johnathan Mackinnon got him a job as a deckhand on a Stornoway prawn fishing boat
and he was there for about two years before November 2011, he explained.
Mr Mackinnon was working on the same vessel but later quit, he said.
He and Johnathan Mackinnon met when they both attended the Nicolson Institute secondary
school in Stornoway. Mr Millar had enrolled there in 3rd Year from the Shawbost secondary.
They were close friends and Mr Millar stayed at Mr Mackinnon’s house from time to
time, often when he had an early start on the boat.
In response to McMenamin he confirmed he was aware the a relationship between Mr
Mackinnon and his Ashley Burns had blossomed again and that Mr Mackinnon had “shucked
into” the place where she stayed.
Mr Millar met Liam Aitchison at Stornoway harbour in summer 2011 as the crew were
landing their catch.
It was “on the pier one day when he asked me for a roll-up.”
That was the start of a friendship and the pair would socialise together, he said.
Mr Millar said Liam was living onboard another Stornoway trawler but “then I think
he was sofa surfing after that.”
Initially, he believed Liam to be about 17 or 18 years but a couple of months after
they meet he discovered Liam was younger. They didn’t stop socialising and Liam
“still got in the pub” he said.
The trial at Glasgow High Court continues.