By Paul Thornton, at the High Court in Livingston
A JURY has been urged to convict a man of murdering his fiancée before he cut up her body and dumped the remains.
Advocate depute Alex Prentice QC told jurors sitting at the Heather Stacey murder trial that a conviction was the only “just and proper” ending following five days of evidence at the High Court in Livingston.
Shop worker Alan Cameron, 56, already admits dismembering the 44-year-old’s body after hiding it for a year at her flat in the capital’s Royston Mains.
Her scattered and dismembered remains were later found in three bags dumped in the Granton area of Edinburgh on Hogmanay 2008 by dog walkers.
He also admits texting a woman pretending to be Heather and stole almost £5,000 from her Post Office account while her corpse remained in the bedroom of her flat.
But he denies murdering her and insists she passed away while he was out buying chips.
Today (Tues) Prosecutor Mr Prentice told the eight women and seven men that nothing else other than an attempt to cover-up Heather’s murder could explain Cameron’s actions in the weeks and months after her death.
In his closing arguments the prosecutor said: “Ask yourself who else but a murderer would conceal a body? Who else but a murderer would pretend to others that the deceased was alive?
“Who else but a murderer would send a text message pretending that the deceased was still alive? Who else but a murderer would move a dead body from one room to another room? Who else but a murderer would live with that dead body, bearing in mind that it was at one time infested with maggots and other insects?
“Who else but a murderer would cut into the body with a view to dismembering the body?
“Who else but a murderer would behave in the way that Alan Cameron did?”
Mr Prentice said it was clear that there was no first hand evidence that showed just how Heather had died.
But he insisted that the claim that she had entered onto a downward spiral in the weeks leading up to her death did not fit with lawyers, support workers and medical staff who were among the last to see her.
Body
Throughout the trial several professionals described Heather as “neat and tidy” and added that she did not fit the mould of a person with ongoing alcohol problems.
But – in police interviews – Cameron claimed that Heather had been downing a bottle of vodka a day and was bed ridden for days at a time in the lead-up to her death.
He insisted that he “panicked” when he found her dead after going out to buy food because there was an outstanding warrant for him over an alleged attack on a dog.
And Mr Prentice pointed out several examples where Cameron lied to officers investigating Heather’s death.
Mr Prentice said: “The explanation that he does give excludes anyone else being involved in the death. The Crown says that he was there at death and that he caused death.
“The only person that knew about her death was Alan Cameron. The last person that Heather Stacey saw on this earth was Alan Cameron.
“You have to consider his behaviour and conduct after. Why was he so keen to stop anyone from finding her.
“Look at the overall conduct of the accused and ask yourself who else but a murderer would act in the way that Alan Cameron did.
Convict
“I ask you to conclude that Alan Cameron is a murderer and I invite you to convict him on charge one of murder.
“I ask you when all is said and done to reach the only just and proper verdict in this case. That is guilty as liabled to all charges on the indictment.”
The jury had earlier heard how in early November 2007 Cameron and Stacey had announced their engagement to Heather’s mother, Elizabeth Egan or McNally.
The trial continues.
