A witness in the trial of four men accused of murdering a missing businesswoman has told a court she ended up in a psychiatric unit after hearing "snippets" of a conversation about a woman being held at a house.
Laura Main, 23, said Paul Smith and David Parker arrived at the home she shared with her then partner, Ian Clyde, 24, late in the evening of April 17 2011.
She said Smith seemed "agitated" and was not looking his normal self as he was unshaven and drunk. The dental nurse told jurors she heard "snippets" of a conversation Smith had with Mr Clyde about a woman being held at a house in West Kilbride, Ayrshire.
"I picked up on wee bits, about a woman being in a house, and I thought they were talking about a junkie going cold turkey," she said. "They said the woman was agitated at not being allowed out the house. I remember saying at one point 'Why don't you go and let her out?'"
Ms Main said Parker was "angry" with Smith and that he told him: "You've said too much, you've got to stop saying what you're saying."
The witness said she forgot about the conversation as Mr Clyde was in court the following day and was sent to prison. She did not tell the police about the incident until January 2012 when they were making inquiries about a missing woman, Lynda Spence.
Ms Spence has not been seen since April 2012, and Parker, 38, and Smith, 47, are on trial accused of her murder along with Colin Coats and Philip Wade, both 42. It is alleged they abducted her and and held her at a flat in West Kilbride for up to a fortnight, where prosecutors claim they cut off her thumb and beat her with a hammer and a golf club.
Ms Main said: "If I had known what was happening, I would have gone to the police then, that night. I ended up in a psychiatric unit because of what it had done to me. It really affected me, because I had kept it to myself.
"If I had known where the house was, I would have gone round and tried to help the woman. That's just the kind of person I am. I said to the police at the time if I had known what was going on I would have got in touch straight away."
Smith is accused of attempting to pervert the course of justice by trying to prevent Ms Main and Mr Clyde from providing statements to the police. The trial before Lord Pentland at the High Court in Glasgow continues.
