A shocking incident unfolded outside a McDonald's restaurant when a businessman approached paramedics on their break with a chilling confession about a dead body in his van, Edinburgh Sheriff Court has heard.
Panicked Approach to Emergency Medics
Douglas Dunbar, 64, made the startling statement to two paramedics who were taking a break outside the fast food outlet in February 2024. The court was told that Dunbar told the emergency workers: "You have to come in, I have a dead body in the van."
Initially, the paramedics believed Dunbar might be "suffering from poor mental health," but their perspective changed dramatically when they investigated his white Transit van and discovered a woman's body lying in the back.
Details of the Tragic Incident
The court heard that the woman, a sex worker, had overdosed after injecting heroin in the back of Dunbar's specially modified vehicle. The van was fitted with a double bed, mattress, duvet, pillows, and a medical cabinet, which Dunbar used for sexual encounters with women.
After the woman became unresponsive, a frantic Dunbar attempted to revive her using CPR before deciding to drive to hospital. However, when he became stuck in roadworks, he changed course and approached the paramedics outside McDonald's.
The medics immediately sprang into action, administering CPR and using a defibrillator in a desperate attempt to save the woman's life. A subsequent post-mortem examination revealed she had died from "a multi-drug intoxication death."
Broader Pattern of Criminal Behaviour
The court proceedings revealed this incident was part of a broader pattern of criminal behaviour by Dunbar, who pleaded guilty to six charges including assault and supplying Class A drugs to women.
Prosecutor Connor Muir detailed how Dunbar had picked up one woman around Christmas 2023 and supplied her with a cocktail drink after adding Chloral Hydrate, a sedative drug with serious side effects including confusion, sedation, and delirium.
Violent Assault and Drug Supply Network
The following month, Dunbar met the same woman again and supplied her with cocaine before violently assaulting her after discovering she had been on a date the previous night. Mr Muir told the court: "The accused jumped onto her and as she was on her back he grabbed her throat and choked her. She couldn't breathe and felt like she was going to pass out. (The woman) believed he was going to kill her."
Dunbar, a former director of a portrait photography business, also badly injured the woman by twisting her arm behind her back during the assault.
The court heard that Dunbar regularly picked up sex workers, supplied them with drugs, and engaged in sexual activity in the back of his van at various locations. He would sometimes claim to have worked for the NHS and to have been a paramedic in Africa.
Attempt to Conceal Evidence
Following the woman's death outside McDonald's, Dunbar attempted to dispose of her mobile phone to conceal "messages of him offering to supply her with drugs." He pleaded guilty to disposing of the phone with intent to defeat the ends of justice.
Prosecutor Muir noted there was no evidence Dunbar had supplied the specific drugs that caused the fatal overdose, but the broader pattern of drug supply to vulnerable women was established through multiple charges.
Court Proceedings and Sentencing
Sheriff Julius Komorowski extended Dunbar's bail with strict conditions requiring him to stay within his home between 7pm and 7am and prohibiting him from driving any vehicle. Dunbar is due to be sentenced next month following the preparation of reports.
The charges to which Dunbar pleaded guilty include supplying cocaine to a woman and culpably and recklessly supplying her with Chloral Hydrate at Fisherrow Harbour, Musselburgh, in December 2023 and January 2024, along with assaulting the same woman.
He also admitted supplying cocaine and diamorphine to women on various occasions between June 2021 and February 2024, revealing a pattern of behaviour spanning nearly three years.
