One of the men accused of murdering a missing businesswoman told a friend he killed someone with a hammer and chopped them up, a court has heard.
Lee Winyard, 41, said Philip Wade came to visit him with another man named Colin Coats in Tighnabruaich, Argyll, on April 29, 2011, where he had been staying in a caravan with his friend Wilma Cairns and his daughter.
Mr Winyard said he picked the men up in his car from a cafe in the village and as they drove back to the caravan Wade told him he was "in a bit of bother" because someone had been following him.
Mr Winyard was giving evidence at the trial of Wade, 42, Coats, 42, David Parker, 38, and Paul Smith, 47, who are accused of abducting, torturing and murdering missing financial adviser Lynda Spence, which they all deny.
Ms Spence, 27, has not been seen since April 13, 2011 when she left her parents' house in Glasgow after taking her mother flowers for her birthday.
"Philip had said to me the night before (on the phone) he had been in a bit of bother. Some guys had been sent to see him regarding collection of money, as far as I was aware," Mr Winyard told the High Court in Glasgow.
"One was left to watch over him while (the others) were to go and get Colin Coats.
"He said he had managed to get the guy off-guard and cracked him with a baseball bat and finished him off with a hammer. He said, 'then what happened was I chopped him up'."
Mr Winyard was asked by solicitor general Lesley Thomson, prosecuting, if Coats said anything during the alleged conversation, to which he replied: "Philip Wade said he was quite a big guy (the man he supposedly killed), that he had some size of head on him. Colin Coats replied something like, 'bigger than yours, you must have quite a heavy head'."
He initially believed the men were playing a prank on him, but it dawned on him that it was more serious when they started asking to get out on a boat, the witness told jurors.
