Three men 'seen outside murdered radio host's flat'
A man has told a murder trial that the day agony aunt Nasim Jamil died he saw three Asian men outside the entrance to her flat.
Kevin Kidd, 35, told the High Court in Glasgow that none of the men he saw resembled the accused, Khalid Sarwar.
The 29-year-old is accused of murdering Mrs Jamil, 54, by repeatedly striking her on the head and body.
He denies killing the Awaz FM presenter at her flat in Glasgow's Byres Road last December.
The court had previously heard how Mr Khalid had allegedly written a letter from prison claiming that Mrs Jamil was killed by three men.
Defence witness Mr Kidd, who lived in the west end, said that he went for a walk on 9 December which took him along Byres Road at about 1900 GMT.
He said he saw two Asian men outside 128 Byres Road - the address where Mrs Jamil lived.
Mr Kidd added: "I saw another gentleman come out of the close. He was Asian. He spoke briefly to the other two men and then they all walked away. I felt he was angry about something."
He was then asked by defence QC Donald Findlay: "Did you see anyone who resembled Mr Sarwar?" and he replied: "No."
Under cross examination by prosecutor Dorothy Bain QC, Mr Kidd was asked: "Could you be mistaken about how close these men were to the close at 128 Byres Road?" and he replied: "Yes."
He was then asked if the men were carrying anything or were bloodstained and replied: "No."
Following Mr Kidd's evidence, prosecutor Dorothy Bain QC gave her closing speech to the jury.
She said the case against Mr Sarwar was circumstantial, but compelling.
She told the jury: "In this case the Crown position is that there is no room for anything other than a conviction for the crime of murder, when you have regard to the nature of the attack and the terrible injuries suffered by Mrs Jamil. She was quite simply bludgeoned to death.
"She was the victim of a brutal and sustained attack. It may not ever be possible to absolutely identify the motive for this terrible crime. Part of the motivation must have been financial."
At the time Ms Bain told the jury, Mr Sarwar was behind with his mortgage payments, owed £800 to a neighbour, could not pay his son's nursery fees and had obtained an advance loan against his December salary.
Ms Bain said: "The lack of forced entry shows that Mrs Jamil must have let her attacker in and shows that she must have known who killed her."
She added that DNA found on a glove left behind at the scene matched Mr Sarwar's, and a hair attached to the glove was a partial DNA match for Mrs Jamil.
The prosecutor told the jury that the jacket and shoes Sarwar was captured on CCTV wearing around lunchtime on 9 December last year were never found.
Referring to a letter allegedly written by Mr Sarwar on prison notepaper in August this year claiming that he was innocent and Mrs Jamil was murdered by three men, Ms Bain said: "He is simply fabricating his defence to meet the evidence against him in the case.
"The letter attempts to give an explanation for some of the incriminating material we have looked at and it demonstrates significant and detailed knowledge about the crime."
Ms Bain said the letter detailed items taken from the house including a brown shawl, a purse, the holdall, the house keys and knives which were not found by police until September 2010 after new information came to light.
Ms Bain added: "In demonstrating the special knowledge he held about the theft of these items he has by his own hand revealed his own guilt. Only the killer knew what was taken."
She added: "In the end the true facts just become more and more obvious and the case becomes stronger and stronger and the guilt of the accused just becomes obvious.
"I ask you to return verdicts of guilt on each charge."
Defence QC Donald Findlay is expected to make his speech to the jury on Wednesday.
Mr Sarwar is accused of repeatedly striking Mrs Jamil on the head and body with a hammer, screwdriver, knife or similar instruments, repeatedly striking her on the head with a bottle and piece of glass and murdering her.
He is also accused of stealing a light bulb, two telephones, keys, gloves, a watch, a bracelet, a necklace, a pair of earrings, clothing, three knives, a bank card, an umbrella, a handbag and its contents and money.
He faces a third charge of attempting to pervert the course of justice.
Mr Sarwar denies all the charges and has lodged a special defence of incrimination.
The trial before Lord Brodie continues.