The inquiry into the disappearance of Montrose woman Kimberley MacKenzie came to a grisly end when her torso was discovered in a wheelie bin.
The High Court in Glasgow heard the find had been made by Inspector Marc Lorente less than two metres from murder accused Steven Jackson’s front door, inside the common close.
While Jackson was at Montrose Police Station, senior officers were carrying out an initial search of his home in Market Street.
Inspector Lorente, then clad in a full forensic suit, said he had first noticed red spots “all over” laminate flooring in the flat’s hallway and beneath a glass table in the living room that he believed could be blood.
Approaching the bathroom, he said he had been struck by the smell of cleaning products and then by the room’s cleanliness, given Jackson’s “chaotic lifestyle”.
Nonetheless he saw a single red spot on the top of the bath and a red pattern on the doorframe “consistent with a bloodstained piece of clothing being dragged past”.
Within the living room, he noticed that a wall had been cleaned, but could nonetheless see evidence of blood spatter, which he described as “cast-off”.
The major breakthrough came as the inspector searched a large wheelie bin in the common close just outside the flat.
Within, he found a single “square-ish” package, smelling heavily of decomposition.
Inspector Lorente said: “I leaned in and pressed the package and could feel hard and soft bits, like I was feeling a rib cage.
“I carefully burst open the package to see what was within and I was of the opinion I was looking at a human torso. I could see hair.
“I was wearing a full forensic suit and mask but he smell became almost unbearable for the officers standing nearby.”
The officer added: “I immediately called the control room to ask for morning refuse collections to be cancelled.
“I also tasked officers to secure bins in a number of streets in the town, including those in Market Street.”
The High Court heard Inspector Lorente had also dispatched a senior colleague to another address in Montrose where it was suspected further body parts may have been hidden.
Entry was forced and a suitcase and rucksack recovered.
Jackson, 40, and co-accused Michelle Higgins, 29, are on trial at the High Court.
They deny murdering and dismembering 37-year-old Kimberley MacKenzie at Jackson’s flat in October last year.
It is alleged they cut up Miss MacKenzie’s body and put her parts in bins in Market Street, Paton’s Lane, Chapel Street and William Phillips Drive.
Jackson and Higgins are also alleged to have cleaned and bleached the walls of the flat and disposed of a bloodstained rug. The trial continues.
