Man convicted of murdered man and concealing remains in Fife

A man who tried to burn the body of Ean Coutts after dumping his remains at an abandoned industrial unit in Glenrothes in Fife has been convicted.

At the High Court in Edinburgh on Wednesday, 15 November David Barnes, aged 33, from Glenrothes, was convicted of murder and attempting to pervert the ends of justice.

Ean was killed at his home in Main Street in Kinglassie in September 2019 and Barnes then used a wheelie bin to take him to the industrial estate where he concealed the body.

Barnes then committed a series of frauds and theft, including pretending to be Ean at premises in Fife, applying for finance in his name and also using the dead man’s bank card to withdraw money from his bank account.

The body of Ean, aged 60, was found by chance at the Whitehill Industrial Estate in Glenrothes on Sunday, 27 September, 2020, but it took until December 2020 for the remains to be identified.

Detective Inspector Scott Roxburgh said: “This was a long and complex enquiry and I want to thank everyone involved.

“Barnes acted in a callous manner, killing Ean and then pretending to be the dead man. He disposed of the body in a horrific way, even setting fire to it to try to dispose of the remains, leaving it in an inaccessible place so that it was only by chance it was found.

“It took a facial reconstruction for us to be able to identify Ean and I hope the court result brings some kind of closure for his family and those who knew him.”