Teenager 'tried to rescue girl'

Nov 23 2009

A teenager accused of murdering his girlfriend in a flat fire told police he tried to rescue her from the blaze, a court heard.

Stewart Blackburn, 18, told officers he "fell down crying" as he tried to pour water over Jessica McCagh and said he recalled hearing the 17-year-old's screams after the bed she was in caught on fire.

Blackburn is on trial at the High Court in Livingston, where he denies murdering Miss McCagh in Arbroath, Angus, in April this year by dousing her in petrol and setting her on fire.