Lawyer's night out ended in his death

his burning flat, a jury at the High Court in Glasgow was told

yesterday.

A neighbour told how he was awakened just after midnight by male

voices shouting and arguing in Mr Stormonth's flat at 3 Botanic

Crescent, North Kelvinside, Glasgow.

Mr Martin Rooney, 34, said that more than an hour later he heard

noises like thumping movements and afterwards heard a car starting up.

This was following a crackling sound from next door and, when he got

up to investigate, he found the flat on fire. He alerted another

neighbour who telephoned the fire brigade.

The witness was giving evidence at the trial of Mr Steven Ryan, 21,

and his brother, Dean, 17, both of Garturk Street, Govanhill.

They deny that last November 17 near Kelvingrove Park, they assaulted

Mr Stormonth with intent to rob him and while armed with a replica

firearm, abducted him, and forced him to drive them in his car to his

home.

They also deny that on November 18 they struggled with Mr Stormonth in

his home, hit him on the head with a bottle, bound his wrists and

ankles, placed ligatures round his neck, strangled and murdered him, and

robbed him of #4, keys, and cigarettes.

They further deny setting fire to the flat to destroy evidence,

attempting to rob Mr Stormonth by using his bank card in an autoteller

machine, and attempting to steal his Renault Five.

Mr Steven Ryan has lodged a special defence of alibi.

Mr Mark Bratchpiece, 47, a news sub-editor on The Herald, said that he

received a telephone call about 2.15am on November 18 from a man with a

young voice. The man said that he wanted to tell him about a murder and

said that it was a Marshall John Stormouth from the fiscal's office.

The caller said: ''He has picked up a boy and he has murdered him and

he has burned him.'' Mr Bratchpiece asked the caller's name and he

replied that it was ''Mr Tomkins''.

Mr Robert Laurie, 51, who works for Securiguard Services and is

responsible for personnel records, said that Mr Steven Ryan worked as a

security guard for them at one stage.

Mr Laurie said that his firm supplied guards for various locations and

Mr Steven Ryan, between September 30 and October 4, 1992, had worked at

Tomkins Brothers.

Earlier, solicitor Miss Rhonda Anderson, 30, of Doune Gardens, North

Kelvinside, told Mr Kevin Drummond QC, prosecuting, how she and advocate

Paul McBride had been defending a case prosecuted by Mr Stormonth at

Glasgow Sheriff Court on November 17.

Later, he had invited them to join him in the bar at the Tron Theatre

and they were there until about 11.15pm. Miss Anderson said that Mr

Stormonth invited them back to his flat for coffee but they declined

because it was late and the last she saw of him was at his car parked

nearby.

The lawyer said that Mr Stormonth told them that he had work on an

appeal to do and she thought that he was getting the papers from his car

before hiring a taxi home because he had turned down their offer of a

lift.

Asked by Mr Drummond if she was aware of Mr Stormonth's sexual

preferences, Miss Anderson said that she had heard rumours but that he

had never discussed the matter with her.

Other witnesses told the court how they saw a man they knew as

Marshall in his Renault Five stopping in Kelvin Way near Kelvingrove

Park about 11.30 that night.

Staff from the Bank of Scotland at 701 Great Western Road, Hillhead,

Glasgow, said that on November 18 they retrieved an autobank card in the

name of Marshall Stormonth, and printed details from their machine

showed that it had been retained because the personal identification

number had been keyed in wrongly three times.

The print-out also showed that the card had been used at 12.09am on

November 18.

Constable Donald McDonald, 37, of the identification bureau, said that

he took photographs in the flat and of a body lying at the foot of a

bed. The ankles and wrists were bound with neckties and there were two

others round his neck.

The trial before Lord Osborne continues.