A former gamekeeper accused of murder has said “why would I wait all that time” to shoot an old colleague dead as he branded the police investigation a “monumental shambles”.
Prosecutors are claiming David Campbell, 77, gunned down Brian Low, 65, on a remote track near Aberfeldy, Perthshire, on 16 February 2024.
Campbell told jurors at the High Court in Glasgow on Wednesday that he last made contact with Mr Low in 2017, stating: “Why would I wait all that time if I was going to do something like that.”
He added: “He never did anything to me, why would I want to do such a thing.”
Campbell has pleaded not guilty to eight charges and has lodged a special defence of alibi in connection with the shotgun murder accusation – claiming he was at home at the time of the alleged shooting.
Both men had previously worked at Edradynate Estate, where Campbell was head gamekeeper and Mr Low was a groundsman before retirement.
The court has already heard how Police Scotland initially treated Mr Low’s death as a “medical event” despite the alleged victim having died of gunshot wounds to the neck and chest.
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The blunder meant the crime scene was not sealed off and forensically examined until days after Mr Low’s body was found.
Tony Lenehan KC, defending, asked his client about the beginning of the inquiry.
Campbell made reference to images previously shown to the jury of Mr Low’s bloodstained face, stating: “They made a monumental shambles of the whole investigation.
“To say after the pictures I have seen and to hear that it was a non-suspicious death is ridiculous.”
When asked if he had anything to do with Mr Low’s death, Campbell replied: “I most certainly did not.”
He also told the court: “He never did anything to me, as far as I know, and I didn’t do anything to him.”
Jurors were told of the moment Campbell was arrested at his home in Aberfeldy on 24 May 2024.
The accused said he was in the toilet with no clothes on when a female officer “burst into the room” along with Detective Constable David Budd.
When asked by Mr Lenehan how it felt to then be handcuffed to the woman, Campbell said “not good” and agreed the incident affected his mood during the subsequent police interview.
The accused noted: “I said a lot of things I should not have said.”
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Campbell was also questioned on his movements on the day of the alleged murder.
It has been accepted that the accused twice placed duct tape over his doorbell camera, once at 7.35am and again at 11.10am on 16 February 2024.
Campbell told jurors that he wrongly believed he had two doorbell devices – one at the front and one at the back of his home – despite being told otherwise by his wife and daughter.
In the mistaken belief that his front door camera had been “stolen”, Campbell claimed he covered up the rear doorbell in a bid to track down the “missing” device as any movement would be flagged up to his wife’s phone.
In an agreed timeline of events, Campbell’s home CCTV system was also found to have been shut down at 10.09am.
The accused admitted: “It had to be me.”
Campbell described himself as a “dinosaur” with technology, adding: “I certainly didn’t mean to switch it off.”
The defendant left his home twice during the morning of the alleged murder, first to visit a property he owned in Aberfeldy’s Dunkeld Street and then to a bowling club with a friend.
He also phoned Perth and Kinross Council between 3.41pm and 3.55pm.
Campbell was not seen on his doorbell camera again until shortly after 7.30pm.
When questioned on his whereabouts, he stated: “I was sitting watching telly. That was my day.”
He also claimed he spent around seven hours between 15 and 16 February 2024 reviewing CCTV footage at his home as he then thought someone had pinched his front doorbell device.
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Crown witnesses previously testified how Campbell had told them he suspected Mr Low of trying to “set him up” in regards to wildlife offences after dead birds were found on the estate.
Campbell told advocate depute Greg Farrell that he was “ordered” by Michael Campbell, his former boss at Edradynate Estate, to lie about Mr Low planting rat poison at his home.
The accused admitted spreading “absolute lies”.
When asked by the prosecutor why, Campbell replied: “Because I was ordered to do so.”
He claimed Mr Campbell told him: “If you don’t, you’ll find yourself out of a job and out of a house by the end of the month.”
The defendant described Mr Campbell, who is no relation to the accused and has since died, as a “mega bully”.
He claimed Mr Campbell wanted to get rid of Mr Low, but when asked “why not just fire him”, Campbell said “times were different” back then.
In a statement given to police in April 2024, Mr Campbell said “things started to get less pleasant” ahead of Campbell’s retirement.
Mr Campbell said: “I would say that David leaving was not on good terms.”
Campbell told the court he did not see it as retirement and was instead “sacked” in 2017.
Speaking about Mr Low, Mr Campbell said: “Brian left on very good terms.”
Mr Low was said to have been given a car and money as a retirement gift.
Scotland reporter
The alleged murder of Brian Low is said to have taken place in Leafy Lane, Aberfeldy, near to the Pitilie Track, on 16 February 2024.
Mr Low’s body was first discovered on 17 February 2024, with a paramedic pronouncing him dead at 9am.
David Campbell is accused of previously showing “malice and ill-will” towards Mr Low, and is alleged to have discharged a shotgun at him, leaving him so severely hurt that he died at the scene.
Prosecutors allege he earlier disabled CCTV cameras at Tigh Na Caorann in Aberfeldy’s Crieff Road in an attempt to conceal his whereabouts.
He is further accused of attempting to defeat the ends of justice between 16 February and 24 May 2024 by disposing of the alleged murder weapon and gun bag; disposing of a Walther Rotex RM8 airgun; having replacement tyres fitted on an electric bike reportedly used during the alleged shooting; and dumping a box, a cartridge bag and bicycle tyres at Aberfeldy Recycling Centre or elsewhere.
Campbell additionally faces five separate breach of the peace charges spanning between July 1995 and September 2012.
He is said to have acted in a disorderly manner, putting three men and two women in a “state of fear and alarm”.
Campbell is further accused of possessing a Walther Rotex RM8 airgun between May 2017 and February 2024 without the relevant certificate, and discharging it on various occasions.
The trial, before Lord Scott, continues.
