Hitman who shot and killed Bradley Welsh outside his Edinburgh home to appeal murder conviction

The hitman who murdered former amateur boxing champion Bradley Welsh outside his Edinburgh home is to appeal against his conviction.

Sean Orman has lodged a Notice of Intention to Appeal his conviction and life sentence for shooting the 48-year-old in the head with a shotgun at the door to his Chester Street basement flat in April 2019.

Orman, 30, was jailed for at least 28 years last month after being found guilty of the murder by a jury.

The Scottish Courts and Tribunal Service confirmed his intention to appeal his conviction, and that the notice of appeal will be due by July 14. The news of his appeal was first reported in The Scottish Sun.

Bradley Welsh was gunned down outside his Chester Street home in April 2019.

Orman was also convicted of attempting to murder Welsh’s friend and businessman, David McMillan, in a machete attack at his home in Pitcairn Grove in the Greenbank area of the city the month before. It is understood this conviction will also be appealed.

During the murder trial, a witness called Dean White gave evidence saying he told police in March 2019 that Orman was being paid £10,000 by a man called George Baigrie to attack Welsh.

Mr White also gave evidence that Orman had shown him the shotgun at his brother's flat in Duddingston Row and that he had accidentally misfired it into the floorboards.

The jury heard that the shotgun used was found at a property in Lanarkshire after a police raid. It is thought he organised for a friend to take the murder weapon there.

Experts could not say definitively if it was the weapon used to shoot Welsh, but it matched witness Mr White’s description of an ‘old-fashioned’ double barreled sawn off shotgun.

CCTV footage was also released which showed Orman going to and then fleeing the murder scene near Welsh’s home in Edinburgh’s West End.

The court also heard tracksuit bottoms, seized from Orman days after the shooting, had firearms discharge residue inside the pockets which was similar in composition to the type found on Welsh’s body. Orman had been wearing the joggers when he was arrested.

Prosecutor Richard Goddard QC also told jurors about a stolen Ford Kuga car which he argued was used by Orman in the days before Welsh was killed. Mr Goddard said the car has a tracker which recorded its movements and the evidence showed that it was driven past Welsh’s home three times on April 7, 2019.

He also said evidence showed Orman’s mobile phone had been switched off at the time of these trips.

Mr Goddard said the jury could conclude that Orman was the driver and switched his phone off because he did not want anybody to know what he was doing.

The phone associated with Orman was also tracked on mobile phone masts close to Chester Street in the hours before Welsh was killed.

Orman had claimed that, at the time Welsh was shot, he was not in Chester Street but was “elsewhere” travelling alone on a “cycle” between Longstone and Kirknewton.

The jury did not believe his lies and returned two guilty verdicts.

‘Assassination’

Judge Lord Beckett imposed a punishment part of 28 years for the murder charge and 10 years for the attempted murder charge.

He told Orman that he might not be released after the custodial terms ended - the judge said he would only be released when the parole board decided he no longer posed a threat to the public.

Lord Beckett described Welsh’s murder as “premeditated and meticulously planned assassination - the ultimate reasons for which remain unknown to the court.”

He added: “To shoot an unarmed man as he approached his own house was a cowardly and wicked thing to do. His partner and young child were inside as you ended his life apparently in the expectation of payment.”

The court also heard that Orman had nine previous convictions for assault.

In August 2009, he was given a 44 month sentence for a charge of assault to severe injury and use of a knife.

He was given a five year jail term in 2015 for three charges of armed robbery. The authorities were also ordered to supervise him for two years following his release from custody.

However, he was released from that sentence on February 20, 2019 - less than one month before he attacked Mr McMillan.

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