21 April 2021

T2 Trainspotting actor’s friend pleaded ‘no police’ after prior attack, trial told

21 April 2021

The friend of a T2 Trainspotting actor killed in a shooting incident pleaded for police not to attend his home after being attacked with an “old-fashioned” sword, a court has been told.

Bradley Welsh, 48, who appeared in the 2017 film, died after a shooting at a flat in the west end of Edinburgh on April 17 2019 – one month after the alleged attack on his friend David McMillan.

Sean Orman, 30, appeared by video link at the High Court in Edinburgh on Wednesday and pleaded not guilty to all 15 charges against him, including murder, attempted murder and firearms and drugs offences.

He is alleged to have used a loaded shotgun to kill Mr Welsh in Chester Street.

Defence counsel Ian Duguid QC lodged a special defence for charges relating to the death, which is that Orman was cycling near Kirknewton, West Lothian, at the time of the incident.

Orman is also charged with attempted murder relating to an incident on March 13 2019.

He is accused of assaulting Mr McMillan in Pitcairn Grove, Edinburgh, and allegedly did “repeatedly strike him to the head and body with a machete or similar instrument to his severe injury, permanent impairment and to the danger of his life”.

Emma McMillan, his wife, told the court she had seen three masked men pull up at her home in a black Audi and her husband approached the front door.

It was heard he then fell back into the hallway and one of them began to attack the 50-year-old on the floor.

She said: “The door was open and there were now three men standing in my kitchen with knives and balaclavas.

“I started to shout and scream – one of them leaned over my husband and started to hit him with a knife.

“It wasn’t a stabbing action, it was more like he was hacking at him.

Bradley Welsh tributes (PA Archive)

“To me, it looked like an old-fashioned sword.”

The 46-year-old cafe owner said her son – also named David – came down the stairs with a plastic bat, described as a piece of Walking Dead memorabilia, to confront the attacker.

It was heard the 25-year-old managed to “stun” the attacker and the three men then fled.

The court was told two phone calls were made to emergency services, and during one a male voice in the background could be heard saying “no police, no police” – which Mrs McMillan said must have been her husband.

He had visited his friend, known as Mark, at Saughton Prison earlier that day, jurors heard.

Mr Duguid lodged a special defence that Orman was not involved in any offences committed against Mr McMillan and his son and claims they were carried out by someone else.

The lawyer asked Mrs McMillan why police statements given at the time of the assault contradicted evidence given in the courtroom, such as the number of people she had seen during the incident.

She said: “I was suffering from shock and nothing more and not even read it properly.

“My husband was in hospital at the time.”

It was heard there was nothing “distinctive” about the attacker.

Orman is also accused of driving at speeds up to 123mph on the Edinburgh bypass on April 22 2019 – where the limit is 70mph – and failing to stop for uniformed police officers.

He faces an accusation of having driven on the opposing side of the carriageway of Clovenstone Road “in excess of 92mph”, where the limit is 30mph.

Another charge alleges he drove without insurance and was in possession of the class A drug diamorphine and class C drug diazepam.

The trial, before judge Lord Beckett, continues on Thursday and is expected to last around four weeks.

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