Dementia sufferer, 77, accused of murdering his wife was 'calm but confused' when police arrived at his home and found her body in the kitchen, court hears

A dementia sufferer charged with murdering his wife was arrested after he alerted his neighbours to a body in the kitchen.

John Pryde, 77, was said to be ‘calm but confused’ when police arrived at his home and found his wife Kate in a pool of blood.

The High Court in Dundee heard John Pryde – also known as Ian – did not seem to know that the lifeless body belonged to his 74-year-old partner.

PC Robin Gibb, 26, said she arrived at the house in the village of Fishcross, Clackmannanshire, and found Kate Pryde’s body with an obvious severe head wound.

She told the court: ‘Straight away I noticed blood on the walls. I went through to the kitchen and found Kate. She was on the kitchen floor next to the oven.

‘She was clearly deceased with extensive injuries to her head and body. Given the extent of the injuries, I went to check there was no one else in the house.

‘I went to the living room and saw Ian. He was calm but confused. He was not really sure what was going on.

‘Given the extent of the injuries in the room next door, he was very calm in that situation, like nothing had happened.

‘He was saying to me he wasn’t sure who was lying in the kitchen and the neighbour said, “It’s Kate”. He kept saying, “Is it my Kate?” He was really confused. He said there was someone in his kitchen but he didn’t know who it was.

‘He was not tearful or anything. He said he was worried that if it turned out that he had done that, he would get in trouble.’

Pryde was not present in court as the dementia sufferer is in the State Hospital at Carstairs after being deemed unfit to stand trial at an earlier hearing.

He was charged with his wife’s murder in March last year.

An examination of facts – which takes place without a jury – is being held instead of a trial, before Lord Arthurson.

Forensic biologist Kirsty McTurk, 45, told the court blood was found on clothes taken from Pryde after his arrest. She said it was ‘one billion times more likely’ the blood was Mrs Pryde’s but it could have become present by her husband kneeling in it.

Ms McTurk said it could also have got onto his clothes during an assault, but was unable to suggest one scenario being more likely than the other.

She said blood clotting showed it was likely Mrs Pryde had been sitting bleeding in a chair and efforts had been made to clean it up.

Relatives told the court Pryde had been diagnosed with dementia some time earlier and had become worse in the run-up to his wife’s death in March 2023.

He was described in court as a ‘gentle soul’ with an interest in walking, skiing and collecting cacti and had retired as a draughtsman some years earlier.

Detective Sergeant Ross Duthie, 49, interviewed Pryde and said: ‘I formed the opinion he was absolutely unaware of everything that was going on.’

Pryde is accused of killing his wife by inflicting blunt force trauma to her head, neck and body. He is also alleged to have tried to defeat the ends of justice by trying to wash blood from clothes and floors.

The examination of facts continues.