A Fife man accused of murdering his mother told police he had “no idea” why her blood and drag marks were found in the hallway of her caravan, his trial has heard.
Ross Taggart told officers he would be the “last person to lift my hands to my mum” when quizzed three days after the discovery of Carol Anne Taggart’s body under a nearby caravan on January 11.
The jury at the High Court in Edinburgh was today shown a 75-minute police interview conducted by DC Lorraine Macpherson, who said it was to focus on inconsistencies in Taggart’s previous statements.
In the interview, Taggart is told there is evidence of a ‘clean up’ at his mother’s caravan at Wallace Heights, Pettycur Bay, following her disappearance from her home in Dunfermline.
Taggart tells Ms Macpherson that his mother, who he reported missing on December 23, couldn’t afford the caravan and had discussed “getting rid of it”.
Ms Macpherson tells Taggart: “On January 11 the body of a female is found under caravan number two. That body is identified as your mum.
“The circumstances of this discovery are that efforts were made to hide your mum under the caravan to make sure the body was not found.
“Why was she there?”
“No, I don’t know,” Taggart replied.
Ms Macpherson asked Taggart about his mother’s caravan, saying: “There is evidence of low-level drag marks and blood in the hallway area. Can you explain that?”
“No idea,” Taggart replied.
Ms Macpherson said: “That blood was tested and it was identified as your mum’s. What do you say to that?”
“I can’t explain that,” Taggart said.
Ms Macpherson told Taggart that blood was found on bed slats on his mother’s bed and on a bedroom door.
Taggart replied: “How am I meant to explain that?”
Ms Macpherson said: “The body was in sheeting and was bound with green twine that appears to match the kind found in your bedroom at Wallace Heights.
“Can you explain why it was on the sheets?”
“No, I can’t,” Taggart replied.
Later in the interview Ms MacPherson asked Taggart: “You have made a good job of going out and about. You have sex with some lassie, you’re out drinking cocktails, you go to the cinema to see the Hunger Games on your mum’s credit card.
“You have been worried, but you’ve been out every night spending her money. Is that the behaviour of someone whose mum is missing?”
“I can only do what I have been doing,” Taggart said.
Ms MacPherson said: “You have not been looking for your mum because you know fine well she is not coming back.”
Taggart replied: “That’s not true.”
Ms MacPherson said: “That’s why you have been out drinking and selling her stuff.”
Taggart replied: “You ask anyone how much I care about my mum.”
In a separate part of the interview, Ms Macpherson told Taggart: “Your poor mum, someone has strangled her, leaving her under a caravan in blankets and sheets.”
Taggart replied: “I feel bad enough knowing she was missing.”
Taggart is told there was evidence of “blunt force trauma” to Carol Anne Taggart’s head and asked to explain this.
“I’d be the last person to lift my hands to my mum,” he replied.
Taggart, 31, denies killing Carol Anne Taggart and hiding her body under a caravan in Pettycur Bay Caravan Park between December 21 and January 11 this year.
He is also accused of attempting to defeat the ends of justice by concealing his mother’s body within a void under a caravan at Pettycur and attempting to tidy, clean and remove blood staining and other forensic evidence from two addresses and the boot of a car.
He is also accused of reporting his mother as missing and telling others that she earlier left her home and he did not know where she was.
Taggart also faces a theft charge of using his mother’s bank card and stealing a bangle and ring and going to a pawnbroker claiming he had inherited the jewellery.
The trial before Lord Uist continues.