A missing businesswoman owed thousands of pounds to well-known criminals, according to a man who denies murdering her, a court has heard.
Colin Coats, 42, met detectives in Glasgow to discuss the dealings of Lynda Spence, who vanished in April 2011.
He told officers investigating her disappearance that she had taken money from the Chinese community and was involved in getting fake passports for Eastern Europeans.
Detective Constable Alexander McEwan, 42, from Strathclyde Police, told the jury at the High Court in Glasgow that he wrote down a number of figures during the meeting on June 6 2011, but Coats refused to give an official statement.
Looking at his notes, the witness said: "There's figures that Colin Coats said Lynda Spence owed to various well-known criminals in Glasgow that he said he had now incurred the debts for."
Mr McEwan said Coats talked about "power of attorney" during the discussion and mentioned figures of £90,000 and £150,000.
"There's mention of people in the Chinese community being owed £175,000," he said. "There's mention of other well-known criminals in Glasgow."
Under cross-examination by Derek Ogg QC, defending Coats, Mr McEwan said: "Colin Coats told me that Lynda was to get three passports for three Polish Eastern Europeans, fraudulent passports."
Coats is on trial with Philip Wade, 42, Paul Smith, 47, and David Parker, 38, for abducting, torturing and murdering 27-year-old Ms Spence. They are accused of holding her hostage for up to a fortnight and assaulting her in an apparent bid to extract financial information from her. They deny the charges.
Earlier, the court heard that Ms Spence had her kneecaps broken with a golf club during a torture session at a flat. Parker told police that she was held at his home in West Kilbride, Ayrshire, after he was offered £1,500. She was burned with a steam iron and hit with a golf club while bound to a chair and wearing glasses with black tape on them, the trial heard.
