A MAN who murdered a Kinglassie army veteran and then left his body to decompose for 12 months in a disused industrial unit has failed in a bid to get his prison sentence reduced.

David Barnes killed 60-year-old Ean Coutts for "financial gain" in 2019 and in December he was jailed for life with a minimum term of 23 years behind bars before he would be eligible for parole.

His lawyers went to court last week to argue that the 'punishment' part of the sentence was excessive and should be cut.

Appeal judges Lord Beckett, Lord Matthews and Lord Doherty heard that because of the condition of Mr Coutts’s body, police were unable to establish the exact means by how he was murdered.

Central Fife Times: Ean Coutts, of Kinglassie, was murdered in September 2019. Ean Coutts, of Kinglassie, was murdered in September 2019. (Image: Police Scotland)

The judges heard that their colleague Lord Mulholland should have taken this, and Barnes' "limited" criminal record, into account and passed a lesser punishment part.

However, in a written judgement published by the Court of Criminal Appeal on Friday, the judges concluded that he had acted correctly.

Lord Beckett wrote: “We consider that the trial judge was correct in finding that the financial motivation he imputed to the appellant was a significantly aggravating circumstance.

“In common with the trial judge, we cannot conclude anything about the means by which the appellant killed Mr Coutts or the level of violence he used.

“What is significant in this case is that the trial judge found that the appellant committed a calculated, premeditated murder for economic gain by inveigling his way into his victim’s trust, which he then abused.

“The appellant had previous convictions for crimes of dishonesty and a significant assault prosecuted on indictment, which ultimately led to a prison sentence of nine months.

“We have information from victim impact statements, something not referred to in any of the cases on which the appellant founds."

Central Fife Times: David Barnes, of Cardenden, arriving at the High Court in Edinburgh last year. David Barnes, of Cardenden, arriving at the High Court in Edinburgh last year. (Image: Matthew Donnelly)

Mr Coutts had tried to help Barnes, of Cardenden, to get a job and he had employed him to carry out renovations in his home.

For his kindness he was murdered at his home in Main Street in September 2019.

Barnes, now 34, put the body in a wheelie bin and then drove to an abandoned unit at Whitehill industrial estate in Glenrothes.

He left the body in a cupboard and attempted to set fire to the remains.

During the murder trial, the High Court in Edinburgh heard that Barnes had assumed the victim's identity and helped himself to more than £5,000 of his money.

Mr Coutts' skeletal remains were only discovered in September 2020 by an urban explorer, who thought he'd come across animal bones, causing police to launch an investigation.

It took facial reconstruction to identify the dead man.

Barnes was also found guilty of perverting the course of justice, lying to neighbours that Mr Coutts had gone on holiday and moved to England.

After the verdict Detective Inspector Scott Roxburgh had said: “Barnes acted in a callous manner, killing Ean and then pretending to be the dead man.

"He disposed of the body in a horrific way, even setting fire to it to try to dispose of the remains, leaving it in an inaccessible place so that it was only by chance it was found."