Former soldier claims he doesn't remember killing Paisley charity worker

A former soldier who killed his lover has claimed he did not remember stabbing her 42 times.

Gary Brown told jurors he knifed charity worker Alyson Watt at her home in Paisley, Renfrewshire in June last year.

The 55 year-old attacked Miss Watt having earlier been left “heartbroken” amid claims she had kissed another man.

Brown was today/yesterday giving evidence at his trial at the High Court in Glasgow, where he denies murder.

He admits killing the Barnardo's worker – but claims he was suffering from an “abnormality of the mind” at the time.

Brown initially told jurors how he had been smitten with Miss Watt after they met on an online dating site in 2015.

He described her as a “beautiful looking woman”.

The trial has heard the couple later had issues after Brown read a text on Miss Watt's phone about a “friendly, drunken kiss” she may have had on a night out.

Brown said he “asked everyone” what they thought it meant.

He also made internet searches “from finishing work to the early hours of the morning”.

Brown sai: “It broke my heart and sent me to hell. I could not eat and lost two and a half stones.”

He told the court the relationship ended, but they appeared to have got back together days before the alleged murder.

However, there was then a further problem regarding a sexual health matter.

Brown said he believed, as a result, they were “truly finished”.

But, he then turned up at Miss Watt's home on June 2.

Miss Watt was not initially there, but Brown confronted her when she got home.

He told her it was not a “social call” and that he wanted to chat about the sexual health issue.

She was said to have a made a “gesture” that they were finished talking.

Brown recalled then getting a lock back knife from his pocket and stabbing Miss Watt.

He said: “She collapsed heavily on the floor.”

Brown then discovered the boy who lived with her standing “frozen solid”.

He told jurors: “I picked up a hammer and hit him three of four times.”

Brown then heard a stricken Miss Watt shouting on her neighbour.

The ex-squaddie got the knife and struck Miss Watt again.

He told the court: “I thought three, four, five times...but I have since found out a hell of a lot more than that.”

His QC Brian McConnachie asked: “Remember stabbing her 42 times?”

Brown: “Never.”

He believed Miss Watt was alive when he left. Brown initially returned to his home before driving to Dumfries-shire intending on killing himself.

It was there he later became aware of police at his car before being held.

The trial, before Lord Summers, continues