A woman jailed for her part in the brutal murder of a north-east teen with learning difficulties has been cleared of assaulting her former partner.
Debbie Buchan, also known as Robertson, was locked up for nine years for her role in the attack on 19-year-old Laura Milne at a flat in the city’s Union Street in December 2007.
This week she appeared back in the dock at Aberdeen Sheriff Court accused of injuring her ex boyfriend, David Hill, by repeatedly biting him on the body.
But yesterday a jury cleared her of the attack, after the court heard she was acting in self defence during an argument.
The 27-year-old was accused of carrying out the attack while at a cottage in Longhaven, near Peterhead on February 2.
Giving evidence on Monday, Mr Hill said Robertson attacked him after they started rowing.
He said he sat on her to stop her from moving after an argument turned violent, and that she had bitten him “maybe 10 times” to try to force him to get off her.
He admitted he had slapped Robertson and knocked her head off the ground when he rolled off her.
Fiscal depute Anne Macdonald said Mr Hill had been examined by a doctor who reported that he had about 20 fresh human bite marks on his chest and back.
But he denied that his chest had been examined.
In 2007, Robertson, then 19, and Leigh Mackinnon, 18, subjected Miss Milne to a ferocious attack before killer Stuart Jack slashed her throat with a knife.
Jack then mutilated the charity worker’s body and the group hid the body in the kitchen cupboard for a week.
The two girls knew the vulnerable teenager as she worked at the Aberdeen Cyrenians hostel where they lived.
Jack will spend a minimum of 18 years in prison for murdering Miss Milne.
After slitting her throat with a kitchen knife, he tried to cut the head, legs and breasts off her corpse.
Robertson and Mackinnon, who admitted attempted murder and attempting to defeat the ends of justice, were locked up for nine years.
Last month, it emerged Mackinnon was back in the north-east – and working under a false name at a city barbers.
