Pub manager ‘saw gay man headbutted’

Mark Davidson, 46, said he watched David Nairne “stick the head” on bank worker Alan Ross in Mathers Bar, Edinburgh.

The alleged attack happened eight months before the charred body of 45-year-old IT expert Mr Ross was found in his smoke-filled flat.

Nairne, 26, a prisoner in Edinburgh, is on trial at the High Court in Livingston for allegedly murdering Mr Ross in February this year. He denies the charge.

He has pleaded not guilty to attempting to defeat the ends of justice by setting fire to the dead man’s clothing, trying to make the fire spread faster and disposing of evidence, including the murder weapon.

He also denies assaulting Mr Ross in the pub in Broughton Street in June last year.