A man accused of murdering his wife was called a “wife cheater” the night before her death, a jury heard today.
Walter Buchanan is charged with killing Darrel Buchanan at their upmarket flat near Hamilton racecourse in Lanarkshire on February 18 2023. Prosecutors claim the 66-year-old grabbed Darrel by the wrists, restrained her and repeatedly hit her on the head by means unknown.
Buchanan is then said to have put his hands around the 37 year-old’s neck and compressed it as well as covered her nose and mouth. The High Court in Glasgow was told Buchanan gave a statement to PC Ewan Nolan on the day of Darrel’s death.
Buchanan stated on the night before, he went out with friends in Bothwell, Lanarkshire, to pubs. He said: “She was trying to wind me up as I was going out and she wasn’t – she said that my friends were more important than our family – because I was going out and she was staying in.”
Her husband Walter Buchanan has been charged with her murder
(Image: Daily Record)
Buchanan claimed that he received a text message from Darrel saying: “I guess you are having fun in Bothwell without me wife cheater.”
He stated that it “didn’t warrant a response” and did not answer a call from Darrel later that night. Buchanan claimed Darrel was in bed when he returned home in the early hours of the morning but she got up during the night to go to the bathroom.
He stated that Darrel was “cold to the touch” at 6.50am in the morning and attempted to do mouth to mouth on her before dialling 999. Buchanan claimed that he had never cheated on Darrel and did not believe she had an affair.
He earlier stated that he met Darrel in Thailand in October 2015 and that he visited her in her native Kenya as well as Dubai. Buchanan stated that the pair wed on more than occasion in Kenya due to issues including paperwork.
He added that Darrel came to live with him in Scotland in February 2017 where she worked in a number of jobs including at a Morrisons distribution centre in Bellshill, Lanarkshire. Details of a 2017 incident were listed on what is known as a “docket” attached to the indictment. This allows the Crown to lead evidence on it during the trial.
Buchanan’s former neighbour John Fisher, 84, told the court in recorded evidence played to jurors that Darrel chapped his door at 2am on May 27 2017. He stated that Darrel wanted to make him and his wife aware that she lived next door to them with Buchanan.
She was found dead in Hamilton Park North
(Image: Daily Record)
The witness stated that they took Darrel home and he later met Buchanan outside the flat block. Mr Fisher claimed that Buchanan was not happy that Darrel had visited him or that the two women were in his flat.
The witness stated that Darrel visited his home again later that morning when she had a mark on her head. Prosecutor David McLean asked if Mr Fisher inquired as to how she was injured and he replied: “She said that he beat her again and that why she went to the police who took her to Hairmyres hospital.”
Bob Mitchell, defending, put it to the witness there were no issues with Buchanan before Darrel arrived which he replied: “Correct.”
Mr Fisher’s wife Violet Fisher, 82, stated that Darrel told her: “You are my neighbour…I have to let you know. I could be lying there dead and no one would know.”
Mrs Fisher claimed she was told by Darrel that Buchanan took her into a room to “beat” her. Darrel is stated to have said: “I don’t know why he does this to me, he paid a lot of money to get me here.”
She is also claimed to have told Mrs Fisher that Buchanan did not allow her to wear a wedding ring as he didn’t want people to know they were married. Mrs Fisher also stated that Darrel said to her that she could not go back to Kenya as Buchanan had her passport.
Jurors heard that the Fishers moved out their home in March 2021 due to the “toxicity of matters.” Buchanan faces a separate charge under the Domestic Abuse Act – the indictment claiming it was racially aggravated.
This spans between April 2019 and the day of the alleged murder. It lists the same flat in Hamilton Park North as well as Waverley railway station in Edinburgh.
The charge includes claims Buchanan shouted and was offensive as well as allegedly made remarks of a “racial nature”.
The indictment states Buchanan punched Darrel and smacked her with a wooden stick. It is further said he did “control” Darrel by buying her gifts so she was “indebted” to him.
He also allegedly made her behave in a manner as “directed” by him with another claim he isolated her from others. Buchanan is separately charged with assaulting Darrel at Waverley in early 2018 and also behaving in a threatening manner.
The trial continues on Monday before Judge Lord Cubie.
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