The son of an alleged murder victim was arrested when he tried to evade a police cordon and run into a burning building to rescue his father, a court was told.

David Graham, 36, told a murder trial he was at a house on Marconi Road in Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire, in the early hours of May 3, 1998, when he heard the family home was on fire.

Mr Graham was giving evidence at the trial of Barry Henderson, 42, who denies attempting to murder Anne Graham and murdering her 43-year-old husband Gordon by torching their home in the town.

He told prosecutor Jim Keegan QC: "I ran down towards the flat. I saw smoke billowing out the top. I tried to get inside the flat."

Mr Keegan asked Mr Graham: "Were you prevented from doing so?"

He replied: "Yes by the police and firemen. They arrested me"

The High Court in Glasgow heard the family rented two flats at 74b and 74c High Street, Fraserburgh.

When Mr Graham Sr had been drinking he would sleep in the upper flat while his wife slept in the lower flat.

Mrs Graham woke up to find her flat engulfed in choking smoke and she escaped by jumping on to the roof of a police van.

Her son David told the jury he and his two brothers Dean and James assaulted murder accused Henderson earlier that night in a takeaway shop called Sugar and Spice because he had made a rude remark about their mother.

The attack took place just before 11pm.

Mr Graham told the court: "He said either 'is your mother still cheap' or 'is your mother still easy'.

"He made the remark to my brother Dean who told us. A fight ensued. It just erupted. Barry Henderson was getting kicked and punched."

Mr Keegan asked: "Was he injured?"

Mr Graham replied: "Not terribly but enough for what he had said.

"Me and my brothers started it, throwing punches."

He said Mr Henderson could not do anything "because he was pinned down and being hit".

Mr Graham said the incident ended in the street with Henderson lying on the ground getting kicked.

He was then shown a police statement he had made shortly after the fatal fire, stating a man called Jonathan Slater had walked past their flat a few months previously and shouted up saying he was going to petrol bomb it.

When asked about this Mr Graham said he could not remember it and did not know anyone called Jonathan Slater.

Brian McConnachie QC, defending, quizzed Mr Graham on this individual.

The witness claimed he knew "absolutely nothing" of Slater.

Mr McConnachie: "So if Jonathan Slater was sitting in this court, you could not pick him out?"

Mr Graham replied: "No. I know of the name."

The QC asked: "How could you tell police Jonathan Slater was walking past if you don't know who he was?"

The witness said: "I don't recall saying that."

Mr McConnachie asked why Mr Graham was "trying to protect" Slater.

He replied he was not, adding: "I don't even know this person."

Henderson is also accused of assaulting a woman in a nightclub in Fraserburgh by kicking her on the leg and attempting to punch her.

He is also alleged have committed a breach of the peace at a nearby car park on May 3, 1998.

Henderson also faces another charge that he behaved in a threatening manner on a bus between Crimond and Fraserburgh last November.

He denies all the charges against him and has lodged special defences of alibi and incrimination.

The trial before Lord Ericht continues.