The trio accused of murdering and setting fire to an Aberdeen oil worker have appeared back in the dock.
The Courier reported Tasmin Glass, 19, Callum Davidson, 23, and Steven Dickie, 24, will now face trial next month over the discovery of 27-year-old Steven Donaldson’s body at a beauty spot last June.
Mr Donaldson worked as a tool specialist for Aberdeen-based oil firm Interwell and is understood to have owned property in the city.
All three accused, from Kirriemuir, are charged with arranging to meet Mr Donaldson at the town’s Peter Pan playpark between June 6 and 7 last year, with the intention of attacking him, before repeatedly striking him on the head with unknown instruments.
The indictment further alleges that, after being incapacitated, Mr Donaldson was taken to Loch of Kinnordy nature reserve before being repeatedly struck on the head and body with a baseball bat and knife, set on fire along with his car, and murdered.
A two-hour preliminary hearing before Lord Pentland at the High Court in Edinburgh yesterday covered a number of legal matters in the case, including the possible agreement of evidence including telephone data, ahead of a trial which is set down for April 1 and scheduled to last 18 days. The judge set a further preliminary hearing in the case for March 26.
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He continued bail for Glass, who was previously released on the special condition that she does not enter the Angus area.
Dickie and Davidson, who are on remand, also face a number of other charges relating to alleged offences in Angus, Perthshire and Fife dating as far back as 2014.
The early morning discovery of Mr Donaldson’s body at the RSPB reserve near Kirriemuir led to a two-week cordon being thrown up around the area, with a no-fly zone introduced above the site as part of the major police inquiry.
Mr Donaldson, described at his funeral service as a hard-working, ambitious and talented young man, was laid to rest on what would have been his 28th birthday.
The car and motorbike enthusiast’s offshore career had taken him to locations including Azerbaijan, Russia, Africa and Congo.
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