The trial of An Aberdeen University graduate accused of murdering a mother and her daughter in Dundee remains scheduled for January.
App designer Andrew Innes allegedly killed Bennylyn Burke, 25, and her child Jellica Burke at a house in Troon Avenue between February 20 and March 5 2021.
Prosecutors claim the 51-year-old then hid the bodies under the kitchen floor of the property.
He is also accused of raping a seven-year-old girl.
He is due to stand trial early next year.
The case called at the High Court in Glasgow today.
The defence advocate Brian McConnachie said “depending on how the evidence comes out” there is likely to be evidence that could provide a basis for a special defence.
Judge Lord Beckett asked prosecutor Alex Prentice KC for his response.
He said: “The Crown say there is not a proper basis for it.”
Lord Beckett continued the matter to trial due to begin on January 30 next year in Edinburgh.
The hearing heard there could be as many as 16 trial witnesses and it is expected to last eight days.
It is claimed Innes stabbed Bennylyn on the body with a knife as well as repeatedly striking her on the head with a hammer and the handle of the blade.
The indictment alleges Innes murdered her two-year-old daughter Jellica and that he did “asphyxiate her by means unknown”.
Innes faces a charge of attempting to defeat the ends of justice by wrapping Bennylyn’s body in a rubble bag, blanket and tarpaulin and then concealing it in concrete under the kitchen floor at the Troon Avenue property.
Jellica’s body is also said to have been hidden there.
The charge also features a claim Innes told police investigating Bennylyn’s whereabouts he had driven her, Jellica and another child to the Old Inns Cafe in Cumbernauld, Lanarkshire on February 28.
He is said to have told the officers he left them with an “unknown male” and had no contact with them afterwards.
Innes also allegedly pretended to a young girl Bennylyn was in hospital and Jellica was in Bristol.
Innes is separately accused of assaulting, raping and attempting to rape a child and detaining her at the house in Dundee.
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