Mum 'assaulted by man' on trial for murdering her daughter

A woman has claimed she was assaulted by the man accused of murdering her daughter.

Margaret Cruikshanks, 71, was giving evidence at the High Court in Glasgow where Edward Cairney, 77, and Avril Jones, 59. deny murdering Margaret Fleming at Seacroft, Main Road, Inverkip, between December 18, 1999 and January 5, 2000.

Margaret, who would now be 38, has allegedly not been seen for more than 19 years.

Miss Cruikshanks told prosecutor Iain McSporran QC that Margaret's father lawyer Derek Fleming, who had cared for her, died in October 1995.

Cairney and Jones were at the funeral and Cairney introduced himself and offered to help care for Margaret.

She said: “After Derek died they were at the funeral. Eddie Cairney came and approached me and

said if I needed any help with Margaret he would give me respite care.”

Mr McSporran asked her: “Did you know them,” and the witness replied: “No.”

The QC then said: “Was Mr Cairney a stranger to you,” and he replied: “Yes, he was actually.”

Miss Cruikshanks told the court that she allowed her daughter to stay with Cairney and Jones at their home Seacroft in Inverkip for up to a fortnight at a time.

She told the court the last time she saw her daughter at Seacroft was on November 26, 1997, when she was summoned there by a call from Cairney.

Miss Cruikshanks sobbed as she told the jury: “When I got there I said wanted Margaret to come home. He started to assault me. He banged me up against a wardrobe and threw me over a chair and said he wanted me out of the house and he spat in my face. It was a surprise.”

The witness claimed that Jones was in the room when the allegedly assault took place. She said that Margaret was in her attic bedroom.

Margaret was then brought downstairs and asked where she wanted to live.

Her mother said: “I think she was a bit nervous and she turned round and said she wanted to stay there. There was nothing I could do about it.”

The court heard that Miss Cruikshanks made her way home and called the police who went to check on Margaret.

She cried as she told the court: “The police came back to say she was alright. As far as I knew that was where she was living. I didn't visit any more. I got a letter. It said she didn't want to see me any more.”

Miss Cruikshanks told the court that she thought she subsequently saw Margaret and Cairney outside Morrisons in Greenock.

She told Mr McSporran she thought it was two months after the incident at Seacroft and then said to defence QC Thomas Ross that it could have been more than two years later.

Mr Ross said: “You told the police in 2016 when they were looking for Margaret you told them the incident at Morrison was a good few years after the incident at Seacroft what do you mean by a good few years,” and she replied: “Maybe about two years or two and a half years.”

The court heard that Margaret stayed with her mother for some months after her father's death.

Miss Cruikshanks said that she found her daughter difficult to cope with and said she would take things out on her.

She added: “She would come back from school and I'd say what were you doing and her temper would be up and she would batter me.”

Cairney and Jones are accused of defrauding £182,000 in benefits and attempting to defeat the ends of justice by claiming Margaret was alive.

They deny all the charges against them.

The trial before judge Lord Matthews continues.