Bradley Welsh trial: Edinburgh friend of ex-boxer says accused 'was not in my house'

AuthorAlan McEwen
Published date26 April 2021
David McMillan, who'd been pals with Welsh since they were 13, said he'd "very clearly" seen the faces of three men who stormed into his Edinburgh home.

Looking at the dock where murder accused Sean Orman was sitting, the 50-year-old said: "One hundred per cent that's not him."

Advocate depute Richard Goddard QC suggested McMillan was telling a "false story" about his attackers failing to put on their balaclavas when first entering the house.

The prosecutor suggested this allowed McMillan to point to Orman and say he wasn't responsible.

McMillan replied: "That's not true." He gestured to Orman in the dock. "That man there wasn't in my house."

Orman, 30, is on trial at the High Court in Edinburgh where he denies murdering Welsh on April 17 2019 and all of the other charges against him. He claims he was on a cycle ride from the city to West Lothian at the time Welsh was gunned down on his doorstep in the New Town.

Orman is accused of the attempted murder of David McMillan in the city's Morningside on March 13 2019 using a machete or similar instrument and assaulting his son, also David McMillan, 25.

Giving evidence about the attack, dad-of-five David said: "I was in my house. I got a phone call so I sat down on the stairs with my phone.

"I heard a noise at my front door and looked up. I saw three men entering the house. It looked like someone had a machete or something like that.

"I immediately sprung up and went to the kitchen. I had an axe in the kitchen which was used for other work.

"I took the axe and went out intending to put the axe in one of their heads. They now had balaclavas on.

"I went for the first one I saw. He put his head to the side and I think I hit him on the shoulder.

"One of them was on the right hand side of me, on the stairs, and hit me on the head with the machete.

"I fell back into the kitchen and dropped the axe. I felt a weird sensation like someone pouring hot water over my head."

McMillan said an attacker was trying to hit him on the head and his wife Emma, who was in the kitchen, was screaming.

He said he put his hand and arm up to try and protect his head from machete blows.

McMillan added: "My son appeared from nowhere and hit the man with a bat. That knocked him flying into the hallway. My wife and son held the kitchen door shut.

"I started to come to my senses and stood back up on my feet. One of the men got back in and smashed a table with a knife and basically ran away."

McMillan said the three men weren't wearing...

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