CCTV footage has captured the moments two masked killers fled the home of a dad in Kilwinning after carrying out a brutal doorstep murder. Kieran Lindsay and Marshall Andrew Strachan were seen arriving at Pollock Crescent in a small black car shortly after midday on October 18, 2024.
The pair remained inside the vehicle for several seconds before emerging from the rear passenger seats dressed head to toe in black. Both men were wearing masks as they walked down the road towards the home of John Taylor.
Arrival and attack
The chilling footage formed part of the evidence heard during the High Court trial of the pair, who have now been jailed for life for murdering the 44-year-old dad. CCTV from the Crown Office Procurator Fiscal Service shows the two men arriving at around 12.10pm before taking just 10 to 15 seconds to get out of the vehicle.
They then make their way along the street towards John's property, their faces concealed. The pair disappear from view before reappearing just a couple of minutes later. This time, they are running.
Flight and evidence
One of the hooded figures approaches the black car and appears to speak briefly to someone inside. He then runs across the road and down an alleyway, disappearing from the camera's view. As he moves away, the man is seen carrying a long white object, which appears to be a blade, close to his chest and partly concealed beneath his coat.
The footage captured the moments before and after the fatal attack on John, who was found with catastrophic injuries outside his home. He had been stabbed once in the abdomen with a knife which penetrated at least 23.5cm into his body. The weapon caused devastating damage to the inferior vena cava - the body's largest vein - as well as the liver.
Aftermath and sentencing
John died from blood loss at his home shortly afterwards. His neighbours rushed to his aid, with one making a desperate 999 call as they tried to save him. The caller could be heard telling the emergency operator: “It looks like his intestines are out. His insides are hanging out…I think he's gone.”
The court heard that Lindsay and Strachan had travelled to the address together in the black car and fled in the same vehicle after the attack. The murder had been planned in advance, with Lord Arthurson describing their actions before, during and after the killing as “almost a textbook illustration of planned concert”.
The judge said Strachan had been armed with the knife and had his face masked, while Lindsay had instigated the attack. Afterwards, evidence showed that efforts were made to destroy potential evidence linking the pair to the murder. Lindsay burned his clothing on Barassie beach later that day, while Strachan burned incriminating items near a wooded area in Kilwinning.
A third man, Kiey O’Connor, 28, had also faced charges in connection with the attack. He pleaded guilty to drugs offences and attempting to defeat the ends of justice at the High Court on June 24.
Sentencing the pair to life imprisonment with a punishment part of 18 years, Lord Arthurson said they had carried out a “pre-planned, concerted and targeted exercise in violent retribution”. He told them: “You in effect disembowelled a man outside his home address in a single blow attack with a knife which had a minimum blade length of 9 inches, all as one of you was masked, leaving your victim to bleed to death as his neighbours sought to comfort and care for him.”
John's family attended the trial throughout. Lord Arthurson said the 44-year-old had been a “beloved father, son and brother” whose death had left an “unfillable void” in the lives of those who knew and loved him. Both Lindsay and Strachan were 19 when John was killed and had no previous convictions.
