ANGRY DENIALS became a sobbing admission by an Arbroath teenager that he stabbed a Czech farm worker, the High Court in Perth heard on a 45-minute recording yesterday.

Adam Gallagher (18), in the second of two interviews conducted on the day the body of Marek Smrz was found in Marketgate, Arbroath, at first insisted he had only tried to help a drunk man he found lying on grass near the harbour.

He denied fighting with Mr Smrz or being near the place where his body was found and was adamant Mr Smrz was still on his feet when he and girl friend Hazel Dryden ran away from him.

Under questioning he conceded, piece by piece, that Mr Smrz had followed them, shouting about his money and passport, and he was scared by what was happening because he could not understand what the man was saying.

He then admitted pushing the man after he claimed he had touched his girlfriend, despite her showing him she did not have his wallet.

Detective Sergeants John Petrie and Iver McIver, carrying out the interview, suggested to Gallagher he might have shown the man a knife to warn him off and allow them to get away.

Gallagher was audibly outraged by the suggestion and shouted that he did not carry a knife.

He said, “You are sitting there trying to twist my words and make out I killed somebody.

“It makes me sick because I would never kill anyone. How dare you?”

The officers had to ask him repeatedly to calm down before the interview could continue.

They explained they had evidence from two witnesses that placed him at the scene.

Gallagher responded, “Yes, we were there. It got heated and I got scared.

“He was going on and on and on. I pushed him right over.”

Growing more agitated he said, “We wanted to get away, I didn’t know what he was saying.”

Denying he murdered the man, he added, “He was going berserk so I pushed him.”

The detectives then told him his girlfriend said he had a knife and was afraid he would use it.

The officers said they had recovered the knife and Gallagher demanded to see it, accusing them of making it up.

Now sobbing openly, mumbling words that were barely discernable, as jurors followed a transcript of the interview intently to the eventual admission.

Gallagher said, “I stabbed him once and I dropped the knife. Hazel picked it up and passed it back to me. She said he fell down.”

Shortly after the admission, the interview was terminated but not before Gallagher was heard asking the detectives, “Where’s Hazel?”

Gallagher denies murdering Marek Smrz (23), of Woodley Caravan Park, by Arbroath, by striking him on the body with a knife at Marketgate, Arbroath, on July 18 last year.

He also denies stealing a wallet and its contents, while acting with another, at Old Shore Head, Arbroath, on July 17 and illegally possessing a knife at Sidlaw Place and other Arbroath streets between July 1 and July 18.

He further denies struggling with police, threatening violence and attempting to bite a detective at Arbroath Police Office on July 18.

Gallagher denies he assaulted Andrew Jamieson at Arbroath’s Abbeygate Shopping Centre on March 11 2004 by presenting a knife.

It is alleged he was on bail at the time of all the charges.

Mark Stewart QC, defending, has lodged a special defence of self-defence to the charge of murder and blamed another person for the theft.

DS McIver told the court later that night Gallagher was formally charged with murder and replied, “It was self-defence.”

Cross examined by Mr Stewart, DS McIver agreed that for the first half hour of the tape Gallagher made various denials but became “increasingly upset and agitated” before breaking down to be “clearly distressed and sobbing.”

Mr McIver said the accused was “up and down” at various stages of the interview.

He also accepted the accused told them he was in fear of the deceased and he was afraid a phone call was summoning other people.

Pathologist Mr David Sadler said the fatal wound was “virtually unsurvivable.”

He said the full length of a long, slender blade had penetrated the chest and bruising around the entry point suggested an impact by the hilt or, more likely in this case, the hand holding it.

He agreed with advocate depute Alan Mackay the knife had gone “straight through the heart” and estimated it penetrated to 90 to 95 mm.

“He would have collapsed immediately, within a matter of seconds and would be unconscious shortly thereafter. He would have been dead within a minute or two.

“He could not have survived the wound if it had happened in a hospital car park.”

The trial resumes on Tuesday.