Pair 'murdered neighbour on remote island'

Two men went on trial today accused of murdering their neighbour on a remote island in Orkney and burying his body in the sand.

Robert Rose, 54, was reported missing on June 8 last year, about 15 months after moving from Rotherham, South Yorkshire, to Sanday, where he was renovating a rundown property.

The father-of-three's body was found in sand dunes at Sty Wick more than two weeks later.

John Campbell, 59, and Stephen Crummack, 51, are accused of murdering the former construction worker and hiding his remains.

Mr Rose's daughter, Katie, told a jury at the High Court in Glasgow that her father moved to Sanday in March 2008 to start a new life after experiencing money problems.

The 25-year-old beauty therapist, whose mother died several years ago, said: "He went up before moving, up to visit, he'd heard about the island and wanted to go.

"He loved it so much he decided to move up there. He wanted a clean break, a fresh start."

The court heard that Mr Rose bought a property called Braehowar and a plot of land where he kept three alpacas.

He was living in one room of the building while renovating it and did odd jobs for others on the island.

Ms Rose said her father lived next door to Crummack, who stayed in a caravan next to a chapel building.

She last spoke to her father on June 6, when he sent a video clip to her phone, with the message "ha ha, just chilling, having a boys' night in".

She said that, during his time on the island, her father had got "quite friendly" with a woman called Maggie.

A second witness, community nurse Francis Muir, said Margaret, as she knew her, had a child with her patient John Campbell.

The 53-year-old said she visited Campbell at his home on the island on April 1 and found him "down" and "agitated".

She said: "He was upset because his partner had left him, he hadn't seen his child.

"He said he thought she'd been seeing somebody else and that there were messages going back and forth between her and this other man who lived on the island."

Ms Muir identified the man as "Bob" Rose and noted in her diary that Campbell, who she knew as "Jack", said he wanted to kill him.

She said: "He said that one day he would go up to Bob and he would kill him."

Campbell and Crummack deny murdering Mr Rose at his home on June 6 or 7 and stealing his wallet and some money.

They also plead not guilty to attempting to defeat the ends of justice by burying his body in sand dunes and driving his car to Loth Pier to make it look as though Mr Rose had left the island on a ferry.