Fraserburgh flat window blown out by force of fatal blaze

A former firefighter’s told a murder trial how he and a colleague inched their way through a blazing building trying to find father-of-five Gordon Graham who was trapped inside.

George Basterfield, 58, was giving evidence at the trial of Barry Henderson, 42, who denies murdering 43-year-old Mr Graham and attempting to murder his wife Anne by torching their Fraserburgh home on May 3, 1998.

Mr Basterfield, a painter and decorator from Fraserburgh, told the High Court in Glasgow that he was a retained fireman back in 1998.

He told prosecutor Jim Keegan QC that he and others were called out to a fire at the Graham's home in the early hours of the morning.

He said they were ordered to put on breathing apparatus and climb on ladders up to one of the second floor flat windows.

The court heard that the glass in the window had been blown out by the ferocity of the fire.

Mr Basterfield said: “We searched. We could barely see two or three feet in front of us. It was heavily smoke-filled. We were basically going by feel. We came out of that room and into another room.”

He told the court that they found Mr Graham's body in the last room they searched.

EarlierJames Henderson, 73, the former station officer at Fraserburgh Fire Station, said that fire crews and appliances had to be called in from Aberdeen, Peterhead and Maud to help.

He said: “That was because of the surrounding buildings that were in danger.”

Mr Henderson said that firefighters trained hoses on the building to try to damp down the fire, while other firefighters using breathing equipment tried to get into the building.

Initially, the firefighters tried to get into the building using the stairs – but were beaten back by the the heat.

He said: “Two fire fighters tried to get up the common stairway and were unable to do this because of the intensity of the blaze and falling debris.

“They managed to get in through the second floor window.”

The building was extensively damaged. The fire crews battled the blaze until 7am.

Henderson is also accused of assaulting a woman in a nightclub in Fraserburgh, by kicking her on the leg and attempting to punch her, and of committing a breach of the peace at a nearby car park on May 3, 1998.

He also faces another charge that he behaved in a threatening manner on a bus between Crimond and Fraserburgh last November.

Henderson denies all the charges against him and has lodged special defences of alibi and incrimination.

The trial before Lord Ericht continues