Son of pensioner found bludgeoned in home denies he offered 'hush money'

The son of alleged murder victim Jenny Methven has denied offering murder-accused William Kean £90,000 in hush money.

David Methven was giving evidence for a second day at the High Court in Glasgow in the trial of 46-year-old Kean who denies murdering Mrs Methven, 80, at her home in rural Perthshire on February 20.

Kean has lodged a special defence blaming Mr Methven for the killing.

Defence QC Brian McConnachie said that after Mrs Methven's death the two men met in a cafe in Birnam.

The QC said: "Did you not tell him you would pay him a significant sum to keep quiet," and Mr Methven said: "Absolutely not."

Mr McConnachie went on: "You offered to pay him a total of £90,000 to stay quiet and not tell the police anything," and Mr Methven said: "That's not true."

Mr Methven was then asked: "You told him no one refused money from me and if you want to look after your family you'll do what I tell you."

He said: "That conversation never happened."

Mr Methven was then asked: "Did you know something was going to happen to your mother," and he replied: "No, I had no involvement whatsoever."

Prosecutor Mr Prentice said to Mr Methven: "It was suggested that you told Mr Kean you knew who committed this murder, did you know such a thing?" and he said: "not at all."

He was then asked: "If you did know who was responsible would you tell us?" and he replied: "Absolutely."

He then looked towards Kean and added: "There's nobody more surprised than me to see William Kean sitting in the dock charged with this murder."

Earlier Mr Methven told the court it was "absolute rubbish" that he had been involved in his mother's death.

The court has heard Mrs Methven was struck 11 times with a blunt instrument and died from brain injuries and blunt force trauma.

Mr Methven was asked by prosecutor Alex Prentice QC if he would have harmed his mother and replied: "Rubbish she was my only living relative. I'll never be able to return to the house, my home life has gone forever. I'll live with this every day. When this is all done and dusted everyone will move on, but I"ll live with this forever."

Mr Prentice then asked: "It may be suggested you're responsible for the death of your mother," and Mr Methven said: "Absolute rubbish."

999 call

Earlier the jury was played a harrowing 999 call made by Mr Methven after coming home from work and finding his mother lying slumped in a chair in the kitchen and the house in darkness.

He is heard telling a 999 operator "I just came home and found my mother unconscious. There's blood everywhere. I don't know if she's alive or dead. Could you please get them to come. I need somebody to come to help me. She must have fallen or something."

The 999 operator is heard encouraging Mr Methven to carry out CPR on his mother and eventually he says: "She's just gurgling. I think she's dead."

Mr Methven said that initially he never thought that somebody had killed his mother. He thought it was an accident while out with the dog and she had somehow managed to make her way back home.

The jury was told that murder accused Kean was one of the first friends he called after the death of his mother.

Under cross-examination by defence QC Brian McConnachie the jury heard that Mr Methven is a millionaire.

The court that Mr Methven has £500,000 in a business account, £80,000 in his personal account and £300,000 in investments, as well as £159,000 which was kept in his home at Kildinny Farm Cottages, Forteviot, Perthshire.

Mr Methven admitted that he had not told the police about the money in the house for 32 days.

Mr McConnachie asked: "What connection, Mr Methven, do you have with criminals in Strathclyde?"

He answered: "None."

The QC then asked why the police would think that and Mr Methven told the court he had "absolutely no idea".

Money lending

Mr McConnachie said the police received information that Mr Methven was linked to supplying drugs and money lending.

Mr Methven was asked if it came as a surprise to him and said it did.

He denied having anything to do with supplying drugs or money lending but said he had sometimes lent money to people he knew who had done work and had not been paid, until they received their money and that he was sometimes paid interest.

Mr Methven also told the court: "I once lent an antique dealer money to cover a bargain he wanted and he paid it back and there was certainly no interest on that at all."

He told the prosecutor: "I have never been involved in anything to do with drugs, I have never even smoked a joint."

Mr McConnachie said: "You don't have to smoke them to sell them."

The witness said: "Perhaps. I have never been involved in drugs."

Kean is also accused of stealing around £15,000 from Mrs Methven's on September 14, last year.

It is also alleged that he attempted to defeat the ends of justice between February 20 and March 28, 2012 by pouring bleach onto a pair of bloodstained trousers, cutting a pocket from the trousers and then hiding then in the eaves of a garage in Blairgowrie, Perthshire.

Kean is also charged with attempting to pervert the course of justice between March 13 and 19 by failing to turn up at Perth Police headquarters to have his fingerprints taken for elimination purposes and repeatedly cutting his fingertips and palms to prevent police taking usable samples.

Kean denies all the charges against him. The trial before Lord Glennie continues.

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