Two walk free from Ayr restaurant boss murder trial

Two men accused of murdering a restaurant manager in Ayr almost 25 years ago walked free from court.

At the High Court in Glasgow earlier Jaspal Singh, 54, from Slough, and Balwant Singh, 59, from Dalmellington, had the murder charge against them withdrawn by prosecutor Richard Goddard.

Their former co-accused Jagtar Singh, 51, is still on trial accused of murdering 38-year-old Ansar Shah at the car park of the Armaan Restuarant in Seafield Road, Ayr, on October 4, 1993.

He is also charged with attempting to defeat the ends of justice by fleeing to England on October 4, 1993.

Earlier the trial heard that Mr Shah was stabbed three times – twice in the heart and once in the lung.

The court has been told that there was fighting in the car park after midnight involving members of staff from the restaurant and others including Jagtar Singh, who is known as Tony.

Singh has lodged a special defence of self defence.

The jury has heard that a cold case investigation into the alleged murder was launched in January 2015.

Eventually Singh was traced to France and detained in Frankfurt Airport on November, 2017.

When he was told by police he was returning to Scotland on a plane he told them: “It's no problem, fighting fighting” and pulled up his jumper to reveal what appeared to be a scar on his abdomen.

He was arrested and charged with murder when the plane landed at Glasgow Airport.

The trial before judge Lord Beckett continues.