A mechanic found dead in his rural Aberdeenshire home had nearly £200,000 in cash stored in the house, a court has heard.
Brian McKandie was found deceased in Badenscoth in March 2016 and Steven Sidebottom, 25, is on trial at the High Court in Aberdeen accused of murdering and robbing him.
But yesterday the jurors heard that police scene examiners did not discover the money until the following month.
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The court also heard that paramedics discovered Mr McKandie had been taking Warfarin which they believed explained the amount of blood at the scene.
Kelly Dunbar, a friend of Mr McKandie’s, took her car to the mechanic’s the day he was found with the intention of having him check it over ahead of an MOT.
She said she went there with her partner and daughter and could not find Mr McKandie but was confident he was not far away as both his vehicles were there.
The 42-year-old said they left but returned 20 minutes later because “something was not right” and when she looked through the window of his home she saw blood and she called the police.
Officers, she said, arrived 20 minutes later alongside fire and ambulance crews and she was told to wait in her car which she did and they were later told he was dead.
Her partner Mark Coutts also gave evidence and was asked by defence counsel Ian Duguid QC, about his relationship with Mr McKandie.
He said the mechanic would joke about money going into a shoe box and that he would have to go to the bank as the shoe box was full but said he had never seen such an item.
Mr Duguid said: “There was discovered nearly £200,000 cash in the house. Did you have any inclination that he had that money stored in tins, boxes and wallets?”
He said he had not.
Later in the day the court heard from police constable Ross McDonald who said the home was not initially treated as a crime scene.
He said paramedics had told him that Mr McKandie’s use of Warfarin would have thinned his blood and could explain the amounts found at the scene.
Sidebottom, of Crannabog Farm in Rothienorman, denies the charge against him and has launched two special defences – one of alibi claiming he was elsewhere at the time of the crime and that another man is responsible.
The trial, before Lord Uist, continues.
