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| Murder trial hears of family rows | Murder trial hears of family rows |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| The uncle of a woman on trial for killing her mother and dumping her body in a burn has told a court how the two women had a strained relationship. | The uncle of a woman on trial for killing her mother and dumping her body in a burn has told a court how the two women had a strained relationship. |
| Michael Elliot told the High Court in Glasgow that his sister, Anne Brown, 51, often disagreed with her daughter Lisa over the care of Lisa's young son. | |
| Lisa Brown, 21, and her boyfriend John Wilson, 25, deny murdering Anne Brown in Laigh Gree, Burnhouse, last October. | Lisa Brown, 21, and her boyfriend John Wilson, 25, deny murdering Anne Brown in Laigh Gree, Burnhouse, last October. |
| They also deny dumping her body in Clerkland Burn in North Ayrshire. | They also deny dumping her body in Clerkland Burn in North Ayrshire. |
| Mr Elliot, 48, told the court about the impact the death of his sister had on him and his elderly mother Vera Elliot. | |
| The qualified chemist said: "I am doing what I have to do. I have had to pick up the pieces. I have to bury my sister and arrange her funeral. | |
| My mum said there was elastic joining them together and it would be stretched and stretched until they bounced back together Michael Elliot | |
| "I have had to console my mum. We have cried." | |
| Mr Elliot told how he visited his mum and only sister several times a year from his home in England. | |
| The prosecution asked him if he was able to form an impression about the bond between mother and daughter from his sister's perspective. | |
| He replied: "My mum said there was elastic joining them together and it would be stretched and stretched until they bounced back together." | |
| The court was told that Mrs Brown and her daughter had "differences" about Lisa Brown's son. | |
| Mr Elliot said his niece would "dip in and out" of the home she shared with her mum in Laigh Gree. | |
| Identify remains | |
| He also told how his sister had paid off a £1,500 student debt of Lisa Brown's while she was at Glasgow University studying archaeology. | |
| Mr Elliot said he last spoke to his sister early last October before receiving a call later that month from his mother that Anne was missing. | |
| He travelled back to Ayrshire and was later asked to identify human remains that had been found. | |
| Mr Elliot told the trial: "What I saw at the time, I was unable to identify. I could not be positive." | |
| It is claimed that Lisa Brown and John Wilson struck Mrs Brown on the head and body with a blunt object or objects and that her daughter had previously "evinced malice and ill-will towards her". | |
| Brown and Wilson are then alleged to have attempted to defeat the ends of justice by disposing of her body in the burn. | Brown and Wilson are then alleged to have attempted to defeat the ends of justice by disposing of her body in the burn. |
| They are also accused of washing a quantity of bloodstained clothing which they wore at the time of the alleged attack. | They are also accused of washing a quantity of bloodstained clothing which they wore at the time of the alleged attack. |
| The trial, before Judge Lord Matthews, continues. | The trial, before Judge Lord Matthews, continues. |