Dundee killer Andrew Innes told police searching for missing toddler Jellica Burke: “I couldn’t look after that child. That child was screaming.”
The 52-year-old, who is on trial accused of murdering Jellica and her mum Bennylyn, said to investigators: “She’s in with her mum. Under the floor.”
He added: “It’s going to take you some time. They are three or four feet down.”
App designer Innes also told police he killed 25-year-old Bennylyn after she “came at me with a sushi knife”.
Police witnesses
On the second day of the trial at the High Court in Edinburgh, Detective Constable Paul Hardie told jurors Innes was taken to Downfield Police Station after he was removed from his home at Troon Avenue on March 5 2021.
Innes was asked: “How long has that female been under your floor?”
He replied: “Last Friday, she came up.
“We were going to spend the weekend together.
“I saw that she had been chatting to about 50 men on the phone.
“It was either Monday or Tuesday.”
Innes added: “It took me a while to get through the concrete.”
DC Hardie said he was then asked: “Where is the child?”
Innes replied: “Under the floor with her mum.”
He added: “I could not look after the child. The child was screaming.”
DC Hardie told the court: “After his reply to that question he was upset and started crying.”
He said Innes continued: “There was a fight and she came at me and I fought back and now she’s dead.
“There was no premeditation.
“She came at me with a sushi knife.”
Aberdeen University graduate Innes is accused of abducting and raping a second child.
When asked about it, he said: “I never touched that girl.”
Bought hammer from B&Q
Jurors were shown CCTV footage from Sunday, February 21 2021.
Detective Constable Greg Irvine, 42, told the trial the video showed Innes buying a “club hammer” from B&Q in Dundee’s King’s Cross Road.
Police sergeant Beverley Symon, 49, said she attended at Innes’ Troon Avenue home at about 1.10pm on March 5, 2021.
There she met Innes and her colleagues PC Gavin Burns and PC Rhianne Brogan.
Asked by advocate depute Alex Prentice if Innes said anything as he was led into a waiting police van, Sgt Symon said: “Yes, he said: ‘She’s under the floor. It’s the bit with adhesive and no tiles.'”
She said Innes was later asked about Jellica.
“She’s in with her mum,” he said. “Under the floor.”
Innes added: “It’s going to take you some time. They are three or four feet down.”
Murder defence
Innes has admitted killing Bennylyn Burke and her daughter Jellica, although he denies murdering them.
His lawyers have lodged a special defence that he acting with diminished responsibility.
Innes is further accused of abducting, raping and sexually assaulting another child.
And he faces allegations that he attempted to defeat the ends of justice.
The trial before Lord Beckett continues.
The Troon Avenue trial evidence so far:
- The joint minute of agreed facts including Innes’ admission he killed Mrs Burke and her daughter.
- Police said Innes confessed his crime and Mrs Burke’s husband spoke of his fears when she disappeared.
- The young alleged rape victim told how she saw Innes hit Mrs Burke with a hammer.
- The girl’s evidence that she thought Jellica had been killed during a game of hide and seek.
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