Man found guilty of murdering ex boxer Bradley Welsh outside his Edinburgh home and is jailed for 28 years
Sean Orman was also convicted of attempting to murder Welsh’s friend and businessman, David McMillan, 50, in a machete attack at his home in Pitcairn Grove in the Greenbank area of the city the month before.
Orman has been sentenced to a minimum of 28 years in prison.
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Hide Adhttps://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/crime/the-time-former-middlesbrough-mayor-ray-robocop-mallon-tackled-bradley-welsh-killer-sean-orman-as-he-fled-with-watches-from-edinburgh-store-3228786" title="The time former Middlesbrough mayor Ray ‘Robocop’ Mallon tackled Bradley Welsh killer Sean Orman as he fled with watches from Edinburgh store">The time former Middlesbrough mayor Ray ‘Robocop’ Mallon tackled Bradley Welsh killer Sean Orman as he fled with watches from Edinburgh store
On the evening of April 17 in 2019, Mr Welsh was shot in the head while his partner and young child were inside his Chester Street basement flat, unaware that their loved one was dying in the street.
In his closing submissions at the High Court in Edinburgh on Thursday, prosecutor Richard Goddard QC told jurors how there was “overwhelming” proof showing that Orman, 30, killed 48-year-old Welsh outside his Chester Street home in April 2019.
He told the court that there were 21 different pieces of evidence which established Orman’s guilt. He also said Welsh had been the victim of a “targeted attack.”
Earlier in the 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.
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Hide AdMr 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 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 at the time he was arrested.
Mr Goddard also spoke of a stolen Ford Kuga motor car which he argued was used by Orman in the days before Welsh was killed. Mr Goddard said the car had a tracker which recorded its movements and the evidence showed that it drove past Welsh’s home three times on April 7, 2019.
He also said that evidence showed that Orman’s mobile phone had been switched off at the time of these trips.
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Hide AdMr Goddard told the jurors that they could conclude that Orman was the driver and he switched his phone off because he didn’t want anybody to know what he was doing.
And he also said that a phone associated with Mr Orman was tracked on mobile phone masts close to Chester Street in Edinburgh in the hours before Mr Welsh died.
The court also heard that the gunman had pointed the weapon at a neighbour seconds after the shooting as he went for a cigarette outside his own property. Chartered surveyor Edward Rennie told how he “dived on the ground” behind a parked car before he ran back towards his flat.
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, Midlothian.
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Hide AdThe jury did not believe his lies and returned two guilty verdicts on Friday afternoon after a few hours.