Single blow from baseball bat felled student dealer. Drugs row killer jailed for four years

from a single blow to the head from a baseball bat.

Andrew Davidson, 42, of Greendykes Road, Broxburn, pled guilty to a

reduced charge of culpable homicide. He had originally been charged with

murder. His plea of not guilty to trying to pervert the course of

justice by burying the body and being concerned in the supply of drugs

was accepted by the court.

Mr Swann's body was found by mushroom pickers near Loch Tummel in

July, nearly a year after he had gone missing.

During their investigations, police discovered that Mr Swann, 30, of

Kirkhill Road, Broxburn, who was doing Latin American studies, was also

one of the biggest drug dealers in the country.

And he had died after accusing Davidson of ''ripping him off'' over a

big consignment of cannabis.

The court was told that Mr Swann went to Davidson's home armed with a

baseball bat and, during a struggle, Davidson got hold of the bat and

killed Mr Swann with a single blow to the head.

The court was told that, in his panic, Davidson drove the dead man's

car to Glasgow and abandoned it.

Then he took the body to the lonely countryside around Loch Tummel in

Perthsire and buried the body and the bat.

Despite a wide-scale search, no trace of the student was found until

mushroom pickers stumbled on the grave by chance last July. He had been

missing since August 10 last year.

When police interviewed Davidson, he told them : ''I buried the body

near Pitlochry and the bat two or three miles down the road.''

Lord Cullen told him it was plain the Crown accepted there had been

provocation and that, although only one blow had been struck, it had

been a foolhardy act.

The Judge added : ''This happened in the course of a struggle for

which the deceased came armed with the instrument which caused his

death.''

Mr Scott Brady, prosecuting, said police inquiries led them to

Davidson, and he told them: ''It was not meant to happen. I did not mean

to kill him. I've got to get this cleared up because I'm cracking up

with it. My wife does not know.''

Mr Scott said Davidson admitted that Mr Swann had paid him for keeping

large amounts of cannabis resin for him over several years.

In a statement, Davidson said: ''Swann was a drugs dealer, one of the

biggest in Scotland, and sometimes brought as much as 200kg at a time.''

Mr Scott said Davidson described how one parcel of drugs weighing

about 25kg arrived, and how Mr Swann later accused him of ''ripping him

off'' and taking some of the cannabis.

That day Mr Swann arrived at Davidson's house, invited him outside,

and then snatched up a baseball bat he had hidden and struck out with

it.

During the struggle, Davidson got hold of the bat and hit Mr Swann

once, fracturing his skull.

Mr Donald Findlay QC, defending, said Davidson had two grown up

children from his first marriage and his second wife was expecting a

baby in February.

Counsel said Davidson used cannabis occasionally and got the drug from

Mr Swann, who was a ''significant dealer''.

Davidson was paid to keep drugs for Mr Swann, and was wrongly accused

of pilfering some.

Mr Findlay said said medical evidence revealed that Mr Swann died

instantly after just one blow had been struck and, with hindsight,

Davidson should have gone to the police.

Mr Findlay said : ''Foolishly, in an effort to protect himself and his

wife, who knew nothing about what had happend, he resolved to dispose of

the body and did that as you have heard.''

Then he told the court : ''It is quite clear that thereafter he went

through every kind of hell imaginable, because he knew it was only a

matter of time before something happened.''

Mr Findlay said Davidson had accepted his advice to plead guilty to

culpable homicide and had told him : ''I killed a man. There is no doubt

about that and I don't see how I can just walk away from that.''

The counsel added that it was a clear case of provocation and one

which bordered on being a case of self-defence.