CCTV at murder accused’s home went off on morning of alleged crime, court hears

The CCTV system at the home of a former head gamekeeper accused of murdering a man with a shotgun went off on the morning of the alleged crime, a court has heard.

Jurors at the trial of David Campbell were also shown footage which twice showed him placing duct tape over a doorbell camera at his home on the day of the alleged shooting.

It is alleged Campbell, 77, shot Brian Low, 65, with a shotgun on February 16 2024, having previously disabled CCTV cameras at his home in the town in an attempt to conceal his whereabouts.

He is accused of shooting Mr Low at Leafy Lane near Pitilie “having previously evinced malice and ill-will towards him”, leaving him so severely injured that he died at the scene.

Campbell denies all eight charges against him.

On Monday, Glasgow High Court heard from Detective Constable David Gardiner who was CCTV officer in the case and talked about CCTV footage from the Aberfeldy area on February 16 2024.

Jurors were shown footage taken from the CCTV camera at Campbell’s home showing his vehicle driving away from the property at about 7.11am on February 16.

He is then seen parking near a property at Dunkeld Street in Aberfeldy that the court heard he was understood to own and walking towards it, then coming back towards his vehicle at 7.31am apparently carrying a bag which he placed in the vehicle.

Prosecutor Greg Farrell asked the police officer what Campbell seems to be carrying.

He replied: “It appears to be a bag, potentially a long thinnish bag”.

The court was shown footage of Campbell’s car returning to his home at 7.35am and of him walking towards his house.

Mr Farrell asked whether Campbell appears to look up directly at the CCTV camera and Mr Gardiner agreed that he does.

The prosecutor said: “From your understanding is there any CCTV footage captured after 10.09am on 16 February?”

Mr Gardiner replied: “Not from that CCTV hard drive.”

He said it is his understanding that the CCTV system went off at 10.09am.

Jurors were also shown footage of Campbell approaching the doorbell camera and placing duct tape over it at 7.35am.

The court heard that the tape had been removed by 10.13am, however, jurors were shown footage of Campbell approaching it with more duct tape at 11.10am.

Mr Farrell said: “So, the doorbell camera is covered by the accused at 11.10am and we don’t have any more footage from that till about 7.30pm?” to which Mr Gardiner agreed.

The court was also shown CCTV footage of a cyclist with a bag on his back heading out of Aberfeldy at about 4.12pm on February 16.

Mr Gardiner said the bicycle had similarities to a bike belonging to Campbell’s wife, which the court was previously shown a photo of.

He also said the clothing worn by the cyclist appeared to be similar to what Campbell was wearing earlier in the day.

Mr Farrell told the court that the cyclist was seen on CCTV at 4.18pm but that the cyclist, if it is the same person, is then not captured on CCTV until 5.01pm.

The prosecutor pointed out that activity on Mr Low’s phone stopped about half an hour after the cyclist disappeared from view.

He said: “So that’s between 16.18 and 17.01 that cyclist is out of sight. The jury know that all activity on Brian Low’s phone stopped at 16.52,” to which Mr Gardiner agreed.

Mr Gardiner told the court that a person he assessed to be Campbell was captured passing the doorbell camera at Campbell’s house at about 7.30pm on February 16.

The court heard that, the following morning, the doorbell camera footage showed Campbell leaving the house and appearing to wave at the camera at about 8.07am.

CCTV footage shown to jurors showed Campbell’s car driving out of Aberfeldy and returning to his home at about 9.10am.

The court was also shown doorbell footage from about 11.31am on February 17 which showed a utility area in Campbell’s house, where a box with a black and white design can be seen.

Mr Gardiner told the court: “It was found to be a box that was made for shipping shotgun cartridges.”

Campbell is also charged with possessing an air weapon without a certificate and discharging it on various occasions between May 2017 and February 2024.

He is accused of attempting to defeat the ends of justice between February 16 and May 24 2024 by disposing of the shotgun used to commit the alleged murder at an unknown location.

It is also alleged he had two replacement tyres fitted on an electric bicycle used in committing the alleged crime and, in addition, that he disposed of a box, a cartridge bag and bicycle tyres at Aberfeldy Recycling Centre or elsewhere and of the air weapon at an unknown location.

Campbell also faces five separate breach of the peace charges, the earliest dating to July 1995 and the latest to September 2012.

Campbell denies all charges against him and has lodged a notice of alibi in respect of the murder charge, saying he was at home in Aberfeldy at the time of the alleged crime.

Both men had worked at Edradynate Estate, where Campbell was head gamekeeper between May 1984 and February 2018 and Mr Low was a groundsman between August 2000 and February 2023.

The trial continues before Lord Scott.