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Cross-dressing murderer Colin Coats has listed the victim he tortured and killed as one his witnesses for a proceeds of crime hearing, which will decide what should be done with any assets he has.

The convicted killer put Lynda Spence’s name on a list of defence witnesses and submitted it as part of his preparation for the hearing, in which he is representing himself.

Coats, 46, is serving a minimum of 33 years in jail as part of a life sentence after he was found guilty of the abduction, torture and murder of 27-year-old financial adviser Lynda, whose body was not found.

In a video obtained by the Daily Record, the killer was was caught on camera sniffing poppers, making references to cocaine, boasting about abduction and extortion, and joking about gay sex.

He dubbed himself "the new gangster in town" during the bizarre recording of poems, impersonations and rants.

Following his conviction, the Crown raised a proceeds of crime action against Coats. This is done to determine the confiscation or civil recovery of money gained as a result of a crime.

It was accepted that Coats has no available assets to be seized.

But if a criminal benefit figure is established and assets are found in the future, the Crown can return to seek a confiscation order, the Daily Record reports.

(Image: PA)

Dan Byrne, for the Lord Advocate, argued during a brief hearing at the High Court in Edinburgh that Coates should be ordered to lodge a response to a statement of information in the action. He said it was also in the interest of the parties if items, such as bank statements, were capable of being agreed.

Mr Byrne said Coats had a list of people to use as witnesses for the hearing. He added: “It includes a number of irrelevant witnesses, including the deceased he was convicted of murdering.”

Coats complained about the level of disclosure he had received from the Crown ahead of the hearing and that he had yet to receive a copy of a piece of legislation.

(Image: Daily Record) (Image: PA)

The judge agreed to a continuation in the action, which goes to a full hearing next month.

Coats and his accomplice, Philip Wade, forced Lynda into a car on Broomill Path, Glasgow, on April 14, 2011, and drove her to a flat in West Kilbride, Ayrshire.

Coats took her to the attic, bound her to a chair with tape, put tape over her mouth to stop her screams and placed glasses with taped-up lenses over her eyes.

He and Wade then began to torture her and continued to brutalise her for 13 days. They hired two small-time crooks, David Parker and Paul Smith, to guard her between the torture sessions.

Lynda was not even allowed to go to the toilet.

(Image: Daily Record)

Police believe Lynda was finally murdered on April 28, and Coats and Wade cut off her head before disposing of her body. Neither would admit what they did to her.

Coats went to great lengths to try to clean up the scene, but police found a spot of Lynda’s blood on the bathroom floor and his fingerprint on the door handle.

The judge who jailed Coats, Lord Pentland, told him: “You are a highly ruthless and extremely dangerous man.

“You have a manipulative, devious and cruel personality, allied to a marked tendency to resort to violence when you perceive that you have been thwarted or to advance your own interests.”

Lord Pentland told him he considered he was “the prime mover behind the abduction, torture and murder”.