A murder-accused pizza chef was cleared of theft, fraud and drugs charges after the Crown withdrew the charges against him.
Nikola Zhulev is still charged with murdering 49-year-old Perthshire jeweller Alan Gardner and attempting to defeat the ends of justice by hiding his body.
He was formally acquitted at the High Court in Livingston yesterday of stealing Mr Gardner’s Toyota 4×4 and valuables from his home in Balbeggie, selling his gold at a pawn shop and using his credit card to buy takeaway meals.
He was also found not guilty of driving the car without an MoT certificate and possessing and dealing in heroin in the days leading up to the discovery of Mr Gardner’s body.
The jury has heard evidence that Zhulev, who is married with one child, confessed to a friend that he killed the self-employed jeweller by hitting him on the head with a heavy frying pan after being accused of stealing money from him.
He is alleged to have bought a spade at Homebase in Perth and dug a makeshift grave in woodland with the intention of burying the body.
The jury watched a video recording yesterday of Zhulev being interviewed by Detective Constable David Budd, 30, on May 11 2015.
During the interview the accused admitted that he sometimes took drugs but claimed he was not addicted to heroin and did not take it every day.
He denied seeing jewellery in Mr Gardner’s house and pawning it for money and denied using the deceased’s credit card to buy takeaway meals.
He admitted he was working as a kitchen porter for £40 a day while claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance.
Zhulev also boasted he was coining in £310 a week and claimed to police officers he had bought Mr Gardner’s car for £850 the Monday before he was found dead.
DC Budd asked him: “Are you going to tell us anything about what happened?” Zhulev replied: “No.”
He then gave “no comment” replies to questions about the last time he had contacted or seen the dead man.
Zhulev also declined to comment on questions about the spade and the tape used to bind Mr Gardner’s ankles together before his body was found by police wrapped “cocoon-like” in a duvet in his bedroom.
The trial, before Lady Rae, continues.