A MUM-of-two wept as she told a High Court jury how murder accused Kyle McAuley sent her a photo of a dead body lying in a blood-soaked Greenock flat.

The midwifery student, who was in a relationship with 30-year-old McAuley until 2016, said that she received the image around 7am, but did not open it until hours afterward.

She was giving evidence as McAuley went on trial in Glasgow yesterday, accused of murdering his friend Kevin McCluskey in a flat in the town's Nelson Street earlier this year.

Prosecutor Greg Farrell asked her what she saw and she replied: “It was a picture of a body.

"It was lying on the floor.

"The place was all blood.

"It was a man.

"I couldn't tell from looking at the picture who it was.”

McAuley, 30, denies murdering 28-year-old Mr McCluskey on March 24.

The witness said that a young child she was looking after saw the photo when she opened it, adding: “She asked me why there was a dead body on my phone.”

Mr Farrell asked the witness: “Did you reply to Mr McAuley?”

She said: “I asked him why he was sending me something like that.”

Asked how she felt, the witness replied: “I was scared.”

McAuley is accused of murdering his friend by striking him on the head with a dumbbell and punching, kicking and stamping on him.

He has lodged a special defence of self-defence and claims that Mr McCluskey attacked him with a knife.

McAuley is also charged with behaving in a threatening or abusive manner by sending a post-mortem photograph of Mr McCluskey – who was known as Kev - to his former girlfriend and to another woman.

It is also alleged that McAuley moved Mr McCluskey's 's body from the bedroom to the entrance of the flat in Nelson Street and placed a knife on the floor near his body in an attempt to defeat the ends of justice.

The second woman said to have received the picture, a care assistant from a nursing home who was in a relationship with McAuley at the time, told of being wakened at home early in the morning by the noise of her phone vibrating.

She was asked who the picture was from and replied: “It was from Kyle.

"It was a guy lying on a bed and there was blood."

The witness told the court that while she did not recognise the man in the photograph she recognised the room it had been taken in.

She said: “It was Kyle's bed and his room.

"The man was lying to one side with his right arm in the air.

"He had on a black bubble jacket and grey shorts and there was blood on the wall above the bed.”

The witness said she texted McAuley saying: “What Kyle is that in your room?”.

She told the court that he replied with what she described as 'gobbledegook.'

When asked how the photograph made her feel, she replied: “I felt sick.

"I didn't know what was going on.”

Defence QC Thomas Ross asked the witness: “Is it correct you told the police that Kyle and Kevin were great pals?”

She replied: “Yes, as far as I know.

"I never met him.”

The trial, before judge Lord Mulholland, will continue on Tuesday.