Bradley Welsh murder trial: Accused told friend 'it's going to kick off'

Bradley Welsh was killed outside his flat in the west end of Edinburgh

The man accused of murdering T2 Trainspotting actor Bradley Welsh messaged a friend saying "it's all going to kick off" two days before the fatal shooting, a court has heard.

Mr Welsh, 48, was killed outside his flat in the west end of Edinburgh on 17 April 2019.

Sean Orman, 30, has pleaded not guilty to all 15 charges against him at the High Court in Edinburgh.

They include murder, attempted murder, firearms and drugs offences.

Giving evidence, dental nurse Levi Begg said she started to be in regular contact with Mr Orman again in February 2019, although they had known each other from school.

'Taken for a mug'

She gave police a statement on 25 April 2019 in which she told officers about a WhatsApp message she received from Mr Orman on 15 April that year.

Richard Goddard QC, advocate depute, said: "In the message, he said he was sick of being taken for a mug and it was all going to kick off."

Ms Begg, 30, said she did not "recall those messages from two years ago" but agreed she would have said that to officers.

The witness also said she was called by Mr Orman at about 20:45 on 17 April 2019 when he asked if she could collect him from the Kirknewton area of West Lothian.

Black bag

He was said to have had a small black bag with him when she picked him up.

Ms Begg told the court the pair talked about what they had been doing that day, but she could no longer remember the details.

Mr Orman then allegedly asked Ms Begg if he could use her phone to make a call, despite having his own available. The witness said she did not know who the accused contacted.

Ms Begg said she took a wrong turn and ended up in a car park in the Balerno area of Edinburgh, where Mr Orman "chucked" away another phone which she assumed was not working.

The court was then told Mr Orman had been trying to remove the SIM card from the phone before putting it down a drain.

Mr Goddard showed Ms Begg a series of scrambled and unscrambled WhatsApp messages between the two, which had been sent in October 2020 when Mr Orman was in custody.

The messages from Mr Orman included the words "shotgun", "handgun", "DNA", "kill" and "arrested".

One unscrambled message was interpreted as saying "terrible piece of evidence".

Police pursuit

Ms Begg said she did not know what the messages were about but confirmed Mr Orman later apologised for getting her involved in the inquiry.

She said: "Just that he's sorry for dragging my family through it. Being involved, getting police coming to my house and stuff like that."

Mr Goddard asked whether this was the accused accepting responsibility.

She said: "No, he's always said that he didn't do it."

Meanwhile, the court was shown footage of a police pursuit said to involve Mr Orman driving an Audi in and around Edinburgh at speeds of up to 123mph in the early hours of 22 April 2019.

Footage from the police vehicle showed the Audi on the wrong side of the road and going the opposite way around roundabouts.

The car was eventually stopped by a police stinger device thrown across the road after a pursuit lasting about 20 minutes.

The trial, before judge Lord Beckett, continues.