FOUR men have appeared in court charged with the abduction and murder of the missing financial advisor Lynda Spence.

Colin Coates, 41, Paul Smith, 45, Philip Wade, 40, and David Parker, 36, are accused of abducting Ms Spence from the Broomhill area of Glasgow or elsewhere, forcing her to travel to Ayrshire and detaining her against her will at a house in Meadowhead Avenue, West Kilbride.

They are then alleged, over a two-week period, to have assaulted her by cutting off her fingers and a thumb, striking her with a golf club, scalding her with an iron and failing to seek medical attention before murdering her by a means unknown to the prosecutor.

Coates is also charged with abducting a male at an address in Broomhill, Glasgow, detaining him against his will, forcing him to strip and demanding money.

All four are further accused of attempting to defeat the ends of justice by cleaning the house in West Kilbride with bleach, removing floorboards and disposing of Ms Spence's body.

Coates, of Glasgow; Smith, of Largs, Wade, of Glengarnock and Parker, of West Kilbride, all Ayrshire, were remanded in custody.

Ms Spence, 28 and who ran a finance firm was last seen leaving her parent's home in Glasgow Harbour on April 13.

She sent a text to her mother the next day saying she had gone to London but her parents later reported her missing.