Two men have gone on trial accused of stabbing a Peterhead dad to death outside a property in the town.
Luke Allan, 28, and Ethan Carlyle, 22, are alleged to have chased down and murdered father-of-two Andrew Ross during the incident on Ives Road in February last year.
Mr Ross, 52, was allegedly stabbed on the head and body by the pair, who deny the charges.
A second man, Brian Middleton, was also allegedly attacked by Allan and Carlyle during the same incident.
On day one of their trial at the High Court in Aberdeen, the jury was shown disturbing CCTV footage taken on the evening of Sunday, February 5.
CCTV played of Andrew Ross’ final moments
Advocate Depute Lindsey Dalziel warned the jury that the footage was at times graphic and could be upsetting.
One video recorded from a property next door to Luke Allan’s Ives Road flat shows Andrew Ross and Mr Middleton walking towards Allan’s front door at around 8.45pm.
Around 10 minutes later Brian Middleton can be seen running away from the property, leaping over a low wall and running off camera.
The video shows he was closely followed by Andrew Ross, who is being chased by two other men.
The court was told that the men had been identified as Luke Allan and Ethan Carlyle.
Detective Constable Kim Duncan talked the jury through the CCTV and explained the movements of the men captured on the footage.
Referring back to the footage at 8.55pm, DC Duncan said it showed the garden gate of Allan’s property.
In it, Andrew Ross is seen falling and is on the ground as Luke Allan directs several “stabbing motion” blows to his torso.
The detective said Ethan Carlyle also approaches the prone Mr Ross and is seen to inflict two downward blows.
Dad collapses face-first on road
At least two dogs can be seen in the footage running in between the men and jumping up the the wall at the edge of the garden.
Brian Middleton is seen to return to the scene, before being chased by Carlyle out of the view of cameras.
As this happens Andrew Ross gets to his feet momentarily and climbs over the gate to the pavement.
Mr Ross takes a few steps but then collapses face-first onto the road and is motionless.
Allan momentarily goes over to him and pulls on his clothing, but then returns to his flat.
A short while later Carlyle is seen running from the scene.
18 penetrating stab wounds
The advocate depute told the court that evidence would be led to say Mr Ross suffered 18 “penetrating stab wounds” and asked DC Duncan if she could identify these being delivered on the footage.
DC Duncan said she had slowed down the footage and could count nine from Allan and two more from Carlyle, adding: “There is a lot.”
She also confirmed two further blows from Allan’s hand had reached Mr Ross’ leg as he leapt over the garden gate before he tumbled onto the ground.
DC Duncan was also asked if she could make out what Allan was carrying in the footage.
She replied: “He is holding a shiny object, which is quite large.”
Holding up her hands to the court, she indicated that it was around nine inches in length.
Alleged admission to neighbour
The jury was also played footage taken in a police custody suite.
In it Luke Allan can be heard telling an officer: “I’m f***** min, ma bairn, ma dogs, the bird – a’thing is f*****”.
Allan’s neighbour, Benjamin Steven, told the court he had heard “dogs barking and a commotion” coming from outside and had gone out to see what was happening.
He told the jury that he had met Allan outside and he had told him he “had been robbed and I have killed somebody”.
Mr Steven told the court that Allan had appeared “panicked” by the tone of his voice.
In a statement he gave later that night, Mr Steven said Allan had asked him not to tell anyone, adding: “It was more of a plea than a threat.”
Mr Steven explained that he and his mother had phoned the emergency services.
Allan’s defence counsel Brian McConnachie KC asked him if his client had “ordered” him not to talk, Mr Steven replied: “No.”
Murder accused deny charges
Luke Allan and Ethan Carlyle are each accused of pursuing Mr Ross, repeatedly striking him on the head and body with knives and murdering him.
Both are further accused of assaulting Barry Middleton to his severe injury by pursuing him and striking him on the body with a knife.
Allan faces three additional charges under the Misuse of Drugs Act.
It’s alleged he was concerned in the supply of cocaine and cannabis from a property on Ives Road property between January 1 2020 and February 5 2023.
He is also accused of possession of the class B drug methylmethcathinone – known as MCAT – on the date of Mr Ross’ alleged murder.
Both deny all the charges and the trial, before Sheriff Graham Buchanan, continues.
