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.