Man who murdered army veteran then hid body at abandoned industrial unit jailed

A man who murdered an army veteran then hid his body in a cupboard at an abandoned industrial unit has been jailed for at least 23 years.

David Barnes, 33, is believed to have killed 60-year-old Ean Coutts at the victim’s home in Kinglassie, Fife, in September 2019.

Prosecutors argued that Barnes removed the body from the property in a wheelie bin and then drove to an industrial estate where he dumped the victim.

Barnes, also from Fife, then attempted to avoid detection by setting fire to Mr Coutts’s remains, which were discovered a year later by an urban explorer.

Police Scotland said it took a facial reconstruction for the force to be able to identify Mr Coutts.

The killer was said to have murdered Mr Coutts for “financial gain”.

Jurors at the High Court in Edinburgh were told that Barnes assumed Mr Coutts’s identity and withdrew more than £5,000 of the victim’s money, which he used to buy “goods and services”.

A police investigation was launched after Mr Coutts’s skeletal remains were discovered.

The urban explorer first thought they were animal bones or a prop.

Barnes was convicted of murder and attempting to defeat the ends of justice last month.

At the High Court in Glasgow on Wednesday, Lord Mulholland jailed Barnes for life and ordered that he spend at least 23 years behind bars.

Lord Mulholland said: “You thought that you would get away with these appalling crimes.

“You lied about Ean Coutts’s whereabouts, pretending to neighbours and friends of the deceased that he had an extended holiday in Morocco or was with his sister in England. Neither were true.”

Barnes was said to have contacted Mr Coutts’s family on the day of his daughter’s wedding pretending to be him and asking for money in what was described as an “act of deception and arrogance”.

Lord Mulholland added: “What you did was despicable and callous, the murder of a man who did you no harm, to the contrary, he gave you work.

“The disposal of his remains in the hope that they would never be found and then stealing his identity and money are acts which are despicable and deceitful.

“You have displayed no remorse or responsibility for the crimes.”

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Barnes is believed to have killed Mr Coutts on 3 September 2019 at the victim’s house in Kinglassie, Fife, or elsewhere in Scotland.

Mr Coutts’s remains were discovered at Whitehill Industrial Estate in Glenrothes on 27 September 2020, and were eventually identified in December that year.

Barnes originally stood trial on a total of 36 charges, which included allegations of theft and fraud. However, prosecutors withdrew the theft and fraud charges at the end of the Crown case.

Detective Inspector Scott Roxburgh, senior investigating officer, welcomed the sentence and said he hopes it “brings some kind of closure for Ean’s family and friends”.

He added: “This was a series of despicable and callous acts carried out by Barnes who deliberately concealed the body to cover up what he had done, including setting it on fire, and then going on to commit a series of frauds.

“Our investigation was complex and it took a facial reconstruction for us to be in a position of being able to identify Ean.

“I would like to thank all officers involved as well as members of the public who assisted with our enquiries.”

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