FORMER publican Daniel Donoghue was jailed for four years at the High
Court in Glasgow yesterday for burning a murdered man's body and burying
it in his back garden.
A jury found him not guilty of battering drug abuser Andrew McKernan,
26, to death with a hammer.
Donoghue, 39, said he had helped to get rid of the body because of his
terror of Mr Henry Jennings, 49, whom he blamed for the brutal murder.
He claimed Mr Jennings, of Braehead, Bonhill, Dunbartonshire, had
struck the death blows.
Mr Jennings, Donoghue said, had threatened to give his two children an
acid bath if he went to the police.
However, Mr Jennings denied that he had been in Donoghue's boarding
house at Drymen Road, Balloch, on the night of the murder, or that he
had played any part in getting rid of Mr McKernan's body in the
accused's garden.
Donoghue was found guilty of attempting to defeat the ends of justice
by burning and burying the body of Mr McKernan, of Buchanan Road,
Helensburgh, between May 27 and June 4 last.
The jury found him not guilty of murder.
Passing sentence, Lord Allanbridge told Donoghue: ''This is a very
serious crime, which was an attempt to defeat the ends of justice.
''In this attempt to conceal the crime and destroy evidence, you
callously burned and buried the body.''
During the trial, the court heard that Donoghue left the licensing
trade three years ago for health reasons.
He bought and sold cars, and through this met Mr McKernan, who was
selling him a car.
However, McKernan, who was on crutches at the time, asked him to drive
him around for a couple of days in what turned out to be a search for
drugs.
Donoghue then found himself in the shady world of drug dealing and
being double-crossed by Mr McKernan.
Donoghue Witness John Murphy, 24, of Redburn, Bonhill, said that he
and Mr McKernan got more than #500 from Donoghue to buy dope but
admitted they intended to deceive him and keep everything.
Donoghue told his counsel, Mr Herbert Kerrigan, QC, that Mr McKernan
and Mr Jennings fell out in his house, and he claimed he saw the victim
being hit over the head with a hammer.
He claimed Mr McKernon was crazed with painkillers, heroin, and
alcohol that night.
In a panic after the acid threats, he rolled the body in a blanket and
put it in his bedroom.
Then he burned and buried the remains.
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