The images are shocking. A man apparently wielding an ax looms over a figure lying spreadeagled on the cobbled road, clad in red overalls. The first man turns to face the camera as it passes and watches, ax in hand, as it drives into the distance. Almost more disturbingly, swiveling around on Google Street View, a man stands watching the grisly scene, hand nonchalantly resting on his hip. All three faces are blurred. But the identities of the two men at the center of the tableau are far from a secret in this corner of Edinburgh. The man lying seemingly lifeless on the ground is Dan Thompson, who has owned and run the Tomson Motor Company on Giles Street -- in the Edinburgh district of Leith -- for 30 years. Above him, longtime employee Gary Kerr.
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Images of Edinburgh's Giles Street on Google Street View appear to show an axe murder
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But mechanics Dan Thompson and Gary Kerr say they staged the "murder" for a laugh
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Thompson said he spotted the car coming and grabbed Kerr in time to set-up the tableau
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He said that the image was spotted by a supplier and police later visited to investigate
Zoom closer and, through the distortion, @placeholder's expression could make you shudder.