Partner of exRAF Pilot Pleads ‘not guilty’ to Stabbing his partner to death

                    

A man accused of murdering his former RAF pilot partner in a knife attack has told a court that he "would have no reason to do such a thing".

Darren McLauchlan, 24, said he found Steven Barrett seriously injured in a bedroom in their Edinburgh flat

                     Darren Mclaughlan

He told the High Court in Edinburgh that he called an ambulance and then applied pressure on Mr Barrett's wounds until paramedics arrived.

Mr McLauchlan denies murdering Mr Barrett by stabbing him on the body. 

He also denies a further charge of attempting to pervert the course of justice.

The incident is alleged to have happened on 6 April last year, after the couple returned to their flat in Lochend Butterfly Way following a night out with their friend Shannon Nisbet.

Mr McLauchlan told the court that he found 27-year-old Mr Barrett beside the bed, apparently trying to get up from a "sort of kneeling position".

He said Mr Barrett told him to get out of the room.

Mr McLauchlan said he had started shouting "What have you done?" at Mr Barrett after spotting a knife in the room.

He then said he called an ambulance and used a towel to wrap around and apply pressure to Mr Barrett's wounds.

He said he knew there were a number of issues in Mr Barrett's life, including telling his parents that he was gay and redundancy fears at the airline Flybe, where he worked after leaving the RAF.

The trial before judge Michael O’Grady QC continues.

BBC

Observations in testimony from Darren McLaughlan

Darren in Center

Darren McLauchlan, 24, said he found Steven Barrett at a bedroom in a flat they had moved to in Edinburgh's Lochend Butterfly Way after a night out in the city with a friend Shannon Nisbet.

He said he was down by the bed "in a sort of kneeling position" and added: "He looked like he was trying to get himself up."

"The first thing he said to me was to get out the room," he said, adding that at that point he did not see a knife.

"He repeatedly told me to get out and not to go near him," he told the High Court in Edinburgh.

But he said that when he came to the bottom of the bed where he was he saw a knife.

McLauchlan said his head "was all over the place" and he was crying and screaming at Mr Barrett "what have you done".

He said he was screaming "why, why'" and Mr Barrett told him to say it happened outside. He called an ambulance and was told to get a towel and wrap it on him and apply pressure.

Mr McLauchlan said one of the last things he said to the ambulance personnel was that he thought he was going to die.

He said he knew there were a number of issues in Mr Barrett’s life that he was facing, including telling his parents that he was gay and redundancy fears at the airline Flybe.

Mr Barrett has been a Flybe first officer working out of Edinburgh