THE weapon used to murder Dunfermline drug dealer Duncan Banks has never been found, a jury was told today.

Police searched bins, storm drains and gardens in the Abbeyview area near the council flat where the 39-year-old was found with his skull crushed in September 2015.

However the claw hammer thought to have been used by his killer to inflict deep cuts and tears in Duncan’s scalp and cause “traumatic” damage to his brain was never traced.

There was also no forensic evidence that a murder weapon had been washed clean of blood although there were blood spots on the walls of his hall, the High Court at Livingston heard.

But DNA evidence from smoked roll-ups indicated that murder accused Steven Thomson had been in Duncan’s living room before he was found dead.

DS Michael Leask, 43, of Police Scotland’s major investigation team, gave evidence that he was put in charge of securing the crime scene at Duncan’s first floor flat in Skye Road.

He was present when forensic biologist Elizabeth Day did a “walk through” to establish whether any blood patterns or potential weapons could help identify what had happened to the victim.

He said police had stopped all bin collections and cut back plants and shrubs in Duncan’s garden in their search for a weapon.

He told the court: “We searched storm drains, driveways and alleyways of surrounding streets to establish if we could identify or recover any item that may have been used.  We did not.”

As the jury was shown an image of Duncan’s body lying slumped in a blood soaked armchair, Ms Day, 45, revealed the results of her forensic investigation.

She said: “The deceased Duncan Banks was in sitting position in armchair with his legs outstretched and his head leaning to the left.

“Runs of blood were visible from a wound on front of his forehead, from his right ear and from the hairline near right temple.”

She added: “These were indicative of blood flowing under the effects of gravity, and of other wounds present under the deceased’s hair. 

“The positions of the runs of blood indicated that the deceased had not moved since blood began flowing.”

However, because the blood had seeped out of the wound subsequent to the injuries occurring she said there would have been no significant “impact splatter” produced as a result of the assault.

Ms Day said her findings were “indicative of having little or no expectation of the offender’s clothing having become bloodstained as a result of the assault”.

The jury was told that the remains of four smoked roll-up cigarettes she recovered from an ashtray in front of a sofa in Duncan’s flat were examined for DNA matches.

Each matched a reference sample taken by police from Thomson.

She said the chance of the source being another male was just one in more than one billion.

Thomson, 29, a prisoner at Perth, is on trial accused of murdering Duncan.

He is charged with repeatedly hitting him on the head with a blunt object or objects to his severe injury and robbing him of money, heroin, a wallet and a key.

He is also charged with possessing the Class ‘A’ drug heroin at Skye Road and elsewhere in Dunfermline between 1 July and 13 October 2015.

He denies the charges and has lodged a special defence incriminating Jamie Curtis, a mature student known locally as “Tranny J”.

The jury heard agreed evidence that Thomson sent a series of text messages to Duncan’s mobile on the morning he is believed to have been killed.

The first timed at 9.13am said:  “On way, bro.”

A second at 11.19am read: “Is it OK eh pop bk up please bro. Just one sugar bro.”

A third at 11.38am simply said: “Where the f*** are you?”

Mr Curtis, the man blamed by the accused for committing the murder, phoned Duncan at 9.39am on Sunday and spoke with him for 10 seconds. That was the last call the dead man answered

Dana Neil, a heroin user at the time, phoned Duncan less than two hours later at 11.05am on the Sunday morning – the first call not answered by Duncan that day.

She subsequently phoned his mobile 46 times between 11.07am and 5.19pm  – six of these calls before 12.02pm  –  but not one was answered.

Police searched Duncan’s flat following the discovery of his body the following day.

Apart from £100 cash found by PC Brian King, no further money was found nor was any quantity of the heroin which Duncan was known to have had.

The trial, before Lady Rae, continues.