The heartbroken sister of a man who died after being tortured for two days in an Aberdeen high-rise today hit out at the police and sheriffs for “allowing” her brother to die.
Lyndsay-Anne Forbes, 35, told The Press and Journal of her “horror” at discovering that police had a window of SEVEN HOURS after the first 999 call to save her brother Jamie’s life.
Jamie Forbes, 37, plunged to his death from the 12th floor of Elphinstone Court in Tillydrone after suffering two days of barbaric violence and abuse at the hands of killer Lee Smith.
Earlier this week, at the High Court in Edinburgh, Smith pled guilty to holding Jamie against his will, repeatedly striking him with a hammer and kicking and punching him.
A timeline presented in court by the prosecutor Leanne McQuillan suggested that Police Scotland may have taken around two hours to respond to the first of multiple 999 calls from people who heard Jamie’s desperate screams for help.
When officers did eventually turn up, they searched the wrong floors of the tower block and told witnesses to “call back if the shouting started again”, Ms McQuillan told the court.
It also emerged that, despite a long criminal record stretching back to 2003 and multiple jail sentences for crimes of violence, Smith was roaming free on no less than two bail orders when he killed Jamie.
“I blame soft justice sheriffs and poor policing for allowing my brother’s death, Miss Forbes said, adding: “Now that some facts are out there, they’ve already proven I was right to be suspicious. The authorities failed Jamie.”
‘Officers searched wrong floors, gave up and left the scene’
In an exclusive interview, Jamie’s sister spoke of her ongoing 293-day-long fight to uncover the truth about her brother’s “devastating” death.
Smith, 37, had held his friend Jamie prisoner for two days inside the flat as part of a plan to force him to “atone” for stealing £40, the court heard earlier this week.
While Jamie was locked in between January 14 and 15 this year, he was battered by Smith who repeatedly punched, kicked and struck his victim with a hammer.
Forensic evidence at the scene suggested the petrified hostage, who soiled himself during the traumatic ordeal, felt the only way he could escape was to jump out the window.
Miss Forbes said: “Over seven hours, there were so many reports of people hearing a man shouting for help and for the police, but what did officers do about it?
“They didn’t go door-to-door, level by level until they found my brother or gather information available to them at the scene to use it to narrow the search and find him.
“Instead, officers searched the wrong floors and then just gave up and left the scene.”
Unanswered questions surrounding timeline
Given the serious allegations, the Press and Journal asked Police Scotland to clarify the timing of the initial 999 call and when officers first arrived at the scene, but they declined.
A spokeswoman referred us to the police watchdog and Scotland’s prosecution service which both said the matter is “confidential” and still under investigation.
However, some light was shone on the incident’s handling when Ms McQuillan read out the case’s narrative at the High Court on Wednesday.
Ms McQuillan told the court that at 8.15am on January 15, a contractor working nearby heard a “male voice” shouting for the police.
He thought it was coming from between the 10th and 16th floors of Elphinstone Court, a block of flats in Tillydrone.
At the same time, a nearby resident also reported hearing a male repeatedly shouting for help but wasn’t sure where it came from and phoned 999.
The court heard that just after 10am, a resident on the 10th floor heard a male voice repeatedly shouting “please help me.”
He went onto his balcony to work out where the noise was coming from, couldn’t see anyone but believed it was coming from above.
Other residents heard Jamie Forbes’ cries for help
Two residents who lived directly above Lee Smith also heard shouting for help.
They looked down and saw the window below was open and saw a male shouting for help and the police.
A number of other witnesses saw a male at a window of the flat with blood on his face calling for help.
Even more calls were made to the police, Ms McQuillan said.
She explained: “Police officers attended and made door-to-door enquiries on the 6th, 7th and 8th floor but were not able to trace the source of the shouting.
“They left the locus advising the construction workers to call back if the shouting started again.”
In an earlier meeting between Jamie’s sister and the Crown Office, officials could not explain why the police had only searched three floors at least four storeys below where her brother was being kept against his will. Nor could they explain why officers left the scene without discovering the source of the screams.
Officials also could not confirm to Miss Forbes whether the witnesses who appeared in the best position to help the police trace Jamie’s location were among the 999 callers.
Dangerous violent criminal was walking the streets
When Smith pled guilty to Jamie’s culpable homicide at the High Court in Edinburgh on Wednesday, it was revealed he’d already been jailed three times before for violent crimes.
His two-decade-long criminal record included:
- Shooting an Aberdeen bus driver with an airgun.
- Hitting a pal’s head with a saucepan at least five times because he’d been locked out of his flat.
- Attacking a stranger with a shovel when he wouldn’t give him a cigarette.
- Beating a diabetic man unconscious on an Aberdeen street.
In December last year, the thug was roaming free on two bail orders in separate unrelated criminal court cases when he reoffended within less than a month, this time with deadly consequences at Jamie’s expense.
The two sheriffs responsible for bailing Smith were Sheriff Margaret Hodge and Sheriff Morag McLaughlin.
Sheriff Morag McLaughlin granted the bail order on a summary case concerning alleged housebreaking and vandalism that was called in court on December 29 2023.
Sheriff Margaret Hodge granted the bail order on a petition case concerning road traffic offences and possession of a knife that was called in court on December 18 2023.
In Sheriff Hodge’s case, Smith was bailed after stealing a Deliveroo driver’s car on Don Street, Aberdeen, around 11am on December 16 last year.
For his drug-fuelled joyride, he was eventually sentenced to 26 months in prison and disqualified from driving for 25 months during a court hearing in September.
‘How could any sheriff think Lee Smith wouldn’t be a danger to the public?’
Miss Forbes said she felt incensed that Smith could be allowed to walk free.
“How could any right-minded sheriff think an out-of-control person like Lee Smith with his two-decade-long criminal record wouldn’t be a danger to other members of the public and thoughtlessly release him on bail?”
A spokeswoman for the Judicial Office for Scotland would not comment on specific cases.
However, she explained: “In considering whether or not to grant bail to an accused person in a particular case, members of the judiciary follow legal tests set by Parliament, taking into account any relevant previous convictions disclosed by the Crown, submissions by the defence and any objections raised by the Crown, who can put forward a case for bail being refused.
“Each case depends on the unique facts and circumstances prevailing at the time and the decision can be appealed by the Crown or the defence.”
Sister’s quest for the truth
Crown officials told Miss Forbes that, on all the evidence the police gathered while investigating her brother’s death, prosecutors could not prove that Smith had murdered Jamie.
However, they said there was enough evidence to support charging Smith with culpable homicide, which would still lay all the blame for Jamie’s death on Smith.
The officials added that Smith’s guilty plea to the lesser charge was also an acceptance that he was responsible for Jamie losing his life.
Ms McQuillan said that that bloodstaining on a curtain in a bedroom window and Jamie’s DNA on the window catch were consistent with the belief that he had jumped.
However, Miss Forbes told The Press and Journal she couldn’t accept the claim and complained about the “emotional rollercoaster” she’d been on to find out the truth.
“Jamie was at a window screaming for his life at least five hours before he fell. The Crown told me his fall was partially captured by a CCTV camera at 3.25pm.
“They also said that Lee Smith was found washing up in his flat when he was arrested by officers at 4.05pm. He’d been alone up there potentially cleaning for up to 40 minutes.
“I held my dead brother’s smashed-in hands at the funeral home. There is no way he could have got up to that window and jumped out of it.”
Miss Forbes also said that the authorities had told her for more than two months after her brother’s death that he was already dead before the fall, having suffered multiple blunt force trauma injuries while still inside Smith’s flat.
“That’s what an early death certificate said, but then, after 10 weeks, the authorities told me Jamie was actually still alive when he fell and it was the fall that killed him.”
Drug-users spent three hours in flat where Jamie was trapped but were only treated as witnesses
Miss Forbes told The P&J she also had questions for two people – Szymon Strzelcyk and Cindy Alexander – who were confirmed to be in the flat with her stricken brother for around three hours but were only ever treated as witnesses, not accomplices.
Drug users Strzelcyk and Alexander had previously contacted Smith to ask him to assist them with sourcing a fix.
The pair entered Smith’s flat at 12.16pm on the day of Jamie’s death.
Strzelcyk and Alexander noticed that the front door handle did not look right – as if it had been reversed.
Ms McQuillan explained that the accused “told them he had reversed the lock on the front door to keep (Jamie) there.
“He also said he had ‘battered’ the deceased because of the stolen money.”
Although the pair were aware of Smith’s brutal ill-treatment of his suffering prisoner, neither alerted the emergency services about Jamie’s plight during their visit of several hours.
When they decided to leave Smith’s flat, the accused told them he was going to keep Jamie for three days but less if he “atoned” for the stolen £40.
Strzelcyk and Alexander left the address and were seen to exit the lift at 3.13pm.
Jamie jumped to his death just 12 minutes after their departure.
Alexander later claimed in Facebook posts and messages seen by The Press and Journal that she had called the police after she left the flat.
Police watchdog report ‘confidential’
Police Scotland’s handling of the entire incident has been probed by the Police Investigations & Review Commissioner (PIRC).
The PIRC’s report was submitted to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service in June this year.
A COPFS spokesman said: “The Procurator Fiscal has received a report on the death of a 37-year-old man in Aberdeen on 15 January 2024.
“The investigation into the death is ongoing and significant developments will be shared with the family as the investigation continues.”
A potential future fatal accident inquiry into Jamie’s death could not be ruled out by the Crown Office official who explained that the current investigation forms part of the process for deciding whether to hold a court probe.
Miss Forbes said she would meet Police Scotland bosses in a meeting she claimed was scheduled for next month.
She also planned to stage a protest on the anniversary of Jamie’s death in the city centre of Aberdeen early next year.
Read more:
Killer imprisoned and tortured man to ‘atone’ for £40 theft before Aberdeen high-rise plunge
Killer of Jamie Forbes was no stranger to the courts or brutal violence
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