Murder charge over death of man five years after attack

Raymond Bell appears in court after David Black was attacked at a flat in 2014 and died of his injuries in 2019.

Murder charge over death of man five years after attack Google Maps

A suspect has been accused of murdering a man who died five years after his attack.

Raymond Bell, 36, is charged with assaulting David Black at a flat in Rutherglen on November 2, 2014.

Mr Black was left in a vegetative state following the incident and passed away at a hospice in 2019.

The charge against Bell includes claims Mr Black was repeatedly hit with a table leg and stamped on while he was unconscious.

It is alleged Bell then abandoned the then 35-year-old and failed to get medical help.

Prosecutors claim Mr Black suffered a traumatic brain injury and was left in a “minimally conscious state”.

He said to have developed a form of pneumonia and later passed away at a hospice in East Kilbride on October 27, 2019.

Tony Graham QC, defending Bell on Friday, offered to plead guilty to the reduced charge of culpable homicide at a hearing at the High Court in Glasgow.

This was rejected by prosecutor Lisa Gillespie QC.

Mr Graham said: “I am content that a trial could be fixed, if one was available.”

No trial was set due to the current pandemic and the case was adjourned by judge Lady Stacey to a further hearing in June.