Murder trial told Brian McKandie had nearly £200,000 hidden in ‘tins, boxes and wallets’

A north-east mechanic found dead in his home had nearly £200,000 in cash stored in the house, a court has heard.

Brian McKandie was found dead in Badenscoth, near Rothienorman, in March 2016.

Steven Sidebottom, 25, is on trial at the High Court in Aberdeen accused of murdering and robbing him.

Yesterday, jurors heard police scene examiners did not discover the money until the following month.

The court also heard paramedics discovered Mr McKandie had been taking Warfarin, which they believed explained the amount of blood at the scene.

The anticoagulant drug thins the blood and stops it clotting.

Kelly Dunbar, a friend of Mr McKandie’s, took her car to the mechanic’s house on the day he was found, with the intention of having him check it over ahead of an MOT.

She said she went there with her partner and daughter and could not find Mr McKandie but was confident he was not far away as his two vehicles were there.

The 42-year-old said they left but returned 20 minutes later because “something was not right” and when she looked through the window she saw blood and called the police.

Officers, she said, arrived 20 minutes later alongside fire and ambulance crews and she was told to wait in her car.

Her partner, Mark Coutts, also gave evidence and was asked by defence counsel Ian Duguid about his relationship with Mr McKandie.

He said the mechanic would joke about money going into a shoebox and he would have to go to the bank as the shoebox was full, but said he had never seen such an item.

Mr Duguid said: “There was discovered nearly £200,000 cash in the house.

“Did you have any inclination that he had that money stored in tins, boxes and wallets?”

He said he had not.

Later in the day the court heard from PC Ross McDonald who said the home was not initially treated as a crime scene by officers.

He said paramedics had told him that Mr McKandie’s use of Warfarin would have thinned his blood and could explain the amounts found at the scene.

Sidebottom, of Crannabog Farm, Rothienorman, denies the charge against him and has launched two special defences – one of alibi, claiming he was elsewhere at the time of the crime, and that another man is responsible.

The trial, before Lord Uist, continues on Monday.