Investigations stretch policeneighbours of latest victim tell of shock
Two murder probes in less than 36 hours in Aberdeen
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Detectives were last night investigating a murder in Aberdeen – the second in less than 36 hours.
A 51-year-old man was found dying at his home in Stornoway Crescent in the early hours of yesterday.
Police and ambulance crews were called to the property at around 1am.
The victim – named locally as Alexander Flett – was taken to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary where doctors battled in vain to save him.
Detectives are also still investigating the death of Ian Wilson, who was found dying in the Tillydrone area on Saturday evening.
Yesterday, uniformed officers guarded the front and back of 32 Stornoway Crescent, Mr Flett’s home in the Sheddocksley.
Wooden blinds shielded the windows and in the back garden a child’s yellow bike and skateboard lay beside a trampoline.
A Spiderman T-shirt and boys’ school trousers hung on the washing line.
Forensics experts wearing white suits worked at the scene and a mobile police incident unit was sited at the back of the house as the murder inquiry began.
Tape blocked off a lane leading to Barvas Walk.
It is understood that Mr Flett lived with his partner, Shona Small, who is believed to be in her late 40s, and their son, Dylan, thought to be aged about six.
Locals said Ms Small’s sister had also been living at the house “on and off”.
Ms Small is understood to have two sons from a previous marriage, Mark and Adam, both believed to be in their 20s.
A friend of the family said Dylan was now being looked after by half-brother Adam, having been taken in by a neighbour after yesterday’s incident.
Neighbours were shocked by the murder. Some locals claimed Ms Small, her sister and a neighbour, named locally as Michael Morrison, were driven away from the scene in a police car in the early hours of yesterday.
Many said they were wakened at around 1am, some by their dogs barking, others by a “commotion” outside.
They saw police cars and a van outside number 32 but said it was not unusual for the police to visit the address. One man, who did not want to be named, said the couple were friends of his and were both “fine” people.
They were “no different from anybody else”, he said, but admitted that rows had been “an ongoing thing” between the pair.
He saw Mr Flett and his son on Sunday evening and said they seemed in good spirits.
The man added: “It’s unbelievable. These are the sorts of things you see on the TV. You don’t expect it at your door. Why this has happened, I don’t know.”
Another neighbour, who did not wish to be named, said it was normally a quiet street and it was “out of the blue” to have a murder.
The woman said there were often people “coming and going” at the house but said she was “shocked” by what had happened.
Another said: “I was working until midnight so didn’t see or hear anything. But I would imagine everyone is as shocked as I am.”
demands
Detective Superintendent Campbell Thomson, who is leading the investigation, said: “Obviously two such incidents ongoing at the same time places demands on our resources and we have significant numbers of police officers and police staff committed to the inquiries, both of which I am overseeing.”
He said inquiries were at “a very early stage” and urged anyone with information about any disturbance or suspicious activity around Stornoway Crescent or Barvas Walk between 9.30pm on Sunday and 12.30am yesterday to get in touch.
Meanwhile, a man appeared at Aberdeen Sheriff Court yesterday charged with murdering Ian Wilson at 41 Western Road, Aberdeen, on Saturday. John Frizell, 29, of 2 Quarry Road, Cults, Aberdeen, appeared in private before Sheriff Peter Hammond, charged with murdering 48-year-old Mr Wilson by stabbing him in the chest.
Frizell made no plea and was remanded in custody and committed for further examination.
Mr Wilson was originally from Moray.
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