Accused ‘boasted’ of attack on lawyer

A MAN accused of attempting to murder a former senior legal official in the Capital was alleged to have told a workmate that he had “done a judge in”, a jury heard.

Scaffolder Nicholas Wells said to police in a statement that Robert Graham told him he had been paid £10,000 to do the job, the High Court in Edinburgh was told yesterday.

Graham, 46, has denied attempting to murder former Law Society of Scotland official Leslie Cumming, 68, at a lane at the rear of his home in Murrayfield Drive on January 23 in 2006. He is charged with repeatedly striking him on the head and body with a knife or similar instrument.

Mr Wells said police attended a site he was working on in 2009 in Edinburgh and added: “They told me they were looking for Rob.”

Solicitor General for Scotland Lesley Thomson QC asked him if he had told them the truth and he replied: “As I remember it at the time.”

She said that he went on to tell police about something Mr Graham told him and read: “He told me around this time he had done a judge in in Edinburgh having jumped out some bushes at him. I can recall him telling me the guy from the BMW paid him £10,000 to do the job and told him to give the guy a good working over.”

The trial continues.