Jury instructed to find Andrew Innes guilty of double murder

Lord Becket told the jury on Monday: ‘I’m directing you on charges one and two you will return a verdict of guilty.’

Andrew Innes arrives at Edinburgh High Court where he is on trial charged with the murder of Bennylyn Burke and her two-year-old daughter, Jellica (Andrew Milligan/PA) (PA Wire)

A jury has been told by the trial judge that it must find Andrew Innes guilty of murdering a woman and her two-year-old daughter.

Andrew Innes, 52, is accused of murdering Bennylyn Burke, 25, and Jellica Burke at his Dundee home between February 20 and March 5, 2021, as well as sexually abusing the toddler and raping another girl.

He admitted to killing them but denied their murder, and had submitted a defence of lacking criminal responsibility and diminished responsibility.

But in his summing up, Lord Beckett told the jury at the High Court in Edinburgh that these could no longer be upheld after the evidence of Dr Gordan Cowan as to the accused’s mental state.

Lord Beckett told the jury on Monday: “I’m directing you on charges one and two you will return a verdict of guilty.”

The instruction came after advocate depute Alex Prentice told the jury on the fifth day of the trial the police officers who arrived at Innes’ Troon Avenue address on March 5 2021 “wouldn’t have contemplated the awful secrets” the home kept when they were checking on the status of the missing woman.

“They didn’t accept at face value the explanation Andrew Innes provided,” he told the court.

“They sensed something was not right and they were correct.”

Under his kitchen floor were the bodies of Ms Burke and the two-year-old, and Mr Prentice told the court had it not been for the police their bodies would have gone undiscovered and he put them there to “cover up his gruesome conduct”.

Giving evidence, Innes said the girl he is accused of raping multiple times made up the allegations against him, but during his 28-minute speech, Mr Prentice asked the jury to consider if she was being deceitful or to be a “credible and reliable young girl doing her best to tell honestly what had happened through use of words, gestures and diagrams”.

Innes’ DNA was also found on the naked body of the toddler, and the prosecution has accused him of sexually assaulting the two-year-old.“Mr Innes asked you to reject this account, that it’s not true these things happened,” Mr Prentice said.

“The position stated to you from the accused is he accepts he’s a man prepared to lie when it suits his purpose.”

Mr Prentice told them they must find him guilty of all offences after hearing the “compelling, convincing and overwhelming case” against Innes.

Brian McConnachie KC defended Innes in his 18-minute closing speech.

On the DNA evidence presented to the court, he said there had been an “element of spin attached” to the findings.

He said the finding of the girl’s and the accused’s DNA on handcuffs was a good example of this “spin” and the explanation provided was “seeking to support a position you are given before you carry out the work”.

Mr McConnachie told them they must consider the evidence critically.

Innes denies murdering Ms Burke and Jellica, sexually assaulting Jellica, and raping another child.

Innes has also denied defeating the ends of justice.

The jury was sent out by Lord Becket at 1203, and they are now considering their verdict.