A MURDER trial was yesterday told how “horrible noises” were heard in the hall of a flat where a Renfrewshire man was allegedly killed.

Linwood man Robert Simpson, 54, told the High Court in Glasgow how he was visiting his friend George Calvert, 48, on March 19, last year, when the incident happened.

Mr Simpson was told to go to the living room when he arrived and then heard sounds from the hallway while he waited.

He told prosecutor Graeme Jessop: “It was somebody getting a thumping, somebody getting beat up. It was as if someone was getting bashed against furniture and bashed against a wall. I felt as if George’s head was being thrown against something, more than once, probably two or three times.”

Mr Jessop asked: “How long did it go on for,” and the witness replied: “Two or three minutes.”

Mr Simpson said he could not see into the hallway of the flat, in Glen Street, Paisley.

He said the noise stopped and a head popped round the door and a man asked: ‘Are you alright,’ and I replied: ‘Aye.’”

When he finally went out into the hall he said he saw Mr Calvert and told the jury: “He was badly beat up. He had a lot of scratches on his face and a lot of blood at his lip. He had one loose tooth.”

He told the court that as he left he told Mr Calvert to lock his door.

Earlier the trial heard from another witness who described “horrible noises” and “screaming from George as if his head was on the floor”.

Stephen O’Donnell, 30, and Robert Muir, 30, deny murdering George Calvert by repeatedly punching and kicking him on the head and body, stamping on his head and striking him with an unknown object. They are also accused of having diazepam in their possession, and Mr Muir is alleged to have supplied diazepam at two locations.

The trial before judge Lady Rae continues.

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