All three of the killers of Arbroath man Steven Donaldson are finally behind bars, after being convicted of one of the most horrific crimes the region has ever seen.
Best friends Steven Dickie and Callum Davidson will serve life sentences, having been found guilty by majority of murdering the 27-year-old oil industry worker last summer.
Tasmin Glass, who lured the father of her baby boy to Kirriemuir Hill on the night of June 6, was convicted of culpable homicide on the unanimous decision of the jury at the High Court in Edinburgh.
She had been out on bail until Friday but judge Lord Pentland rejected her bid to stay out of prison while the killers await sentence, saying it was in the public interest that she should be remanded.
In Saturday’s Courier: The full story of a murder that shocked a community
The verdicts came late on Friday afternoon on the 22nd day of the case, and following almost 10 hours of deliberation by the jury of eight women and seven men.
They had heard harrowing evidence of how the popular and handsome offshore worker was attacked by Dickie and Davidson at Kirriemuir’s Peter Pan playpark after Glass arranged to meet him there to discuss their failing relationship.
Mr Donaldson was then driven in his own car to Kinnordy Loch nature reserve, near Kirriemuir, where his murderers carried out a sustained attack which left him with 26 stab wounds and his spinal cord severed in two places.
He was then dragged across the car park and placed underneath his BMW, before it was set on fire.
The blaze was so intense that the vehicle collapsed onto him and burned his legs beyond recognition.
His mutilated body was discovered the following morning by an RSPB warden and colleagues as they arrived to carry out a bird survey at the beauty spot.
Dickie, Davidson and Glass will be sentenced on May 30.
Lord Pentland told the two men they had been found guilty of a “savage and depraved” murder.
He described Steven Donaldson as a “loved and respected young man who had done neither of you any harm.”
Addressing Glass, the judge said she had been found guilty of the “extremely serious offence of culpable homicide.”
He rejected an application by defence advocate Tim Niven-Smith for her bail to be continued.
Mr Niven-Smith told the court Glass recognised she will “have to get used to the fact that she will be separated from her son for a very significant period of time” in light of the verdict.
None of the accused showed any emotion as they were led from the dock.
Glass failed to even acknowledge her parents, who were sitting just feet away in the public seating of Court Three.
Lord Pentland said he would reserve further observations on the “dreadful killing” until his sentencing statements, when Dickie and Davidson will also learn the minimum number of years they will serve.
He said that would include “close consideration” of the victim impact statements before the court.
His Lordship thanked the jury for their diligence in fulfilling the “exceptionally challenging and onerous public service.”
He said they had been faced with “harrowing and distressing” evidence in a complex case.
