A homophobic teenager who sparked a horror murder has been cleared of a vicious street attack after a taxi driver failed to identify him during a trial.

It is the second time in just over a year that a serious assault charge against Alexander Kindred has been dropped by the Crown as a result of a legal technicality.

Kindred, now 18, was just 15 when he started a homophobic attack on council worker Jim Kerr which eventually led to his victim being battered to death.

The schoolboy called in his friends to beat Mr Kerr to death before callously passing his victim's lifeless body on his way to a party where he bragged about what they had done.

This week at Perth Sheriff Court, Kindred dodged justice for the second time since the killing when a trial for assault collapsed shortly after it began.

It was the second time a case which began on petition - meaning a potential five year jail term - was first reduced to a summary complaint by the Crown and ultimately collapsed.

Taxi driver Brian Richards told the trial Kindred and his co-accused Steven Miller, 32, got out of his cab and assaulted Celtic-shirt wearing pedestrian Shawn McPhee.

He said: "The guy in the Celtic strip got the worst of the fight and ended up on the pavement. Presumably that was because of the other man in the street."

Kindred and Miller, both from Perth, both faced a charge of repeatedly punching, kicking and stamping on Mr McPhee to his injury in Rannoch Road, Perth, on August 9 last year.

Mr Richards told the trial the men had been passengers in his car and climbed back in after the assault and he carried on taking them to their original destination.

He said he then returned to the scene of the attack to check Mr McPhee was alright, but by then ambulance staff and police officers had turned up to investigate.

Mr Richards was then asked to identify the two men at the scene and pointed out Miller, but was unable to formally identify curly-haired Kindred.

As a result, fiscal depute Stuart Richardson said: "In light of the nature of the identification evidence given by Mr Richards I do not intend to proceed any further and invite the court to formally acquit the accused."

Kindred, who claimed he acted in self-defence and also blamed Miller for the attack, smirked as he left the dock.

On February 18 last year, Kindred was due to face another serious assault charge at the same court when it was deserted without explanation by the Crown.

In April 2007, Kindred had a late night clash with Mr Kerr and punched him in the face before calling two of his friends to escalate the attack. Kindred - who could not be identified at the time of his conviction because of his age - was jailed for a year for his part in the attack.

David Meehan, then 19, was jailed for life after admitting murder while 22-year-old Martin Soutar got six years for culpable homicide.

Kindred launched his homophobic attack on Perth and Kinross Council employee Jim, 51, in Perth's South Inch Park. Afterwards, the trio went to a party where Kindred bragged: "A poof tried it on with me and I hit him."

The High Court in Perth heard the gang walked past Jim's body two hours later and ignored him as he lay dying in a pool of blood.