Neighbour says she never saw anyone else living with murder accused

A neighbour of murder accused Edward Cairney and Avril Jones told a jury she never saw anyone else living with them.

80 year-old Catherine Philips from Inverkip, was giving evidence at the trial of Cairney 77, and Jones, 58, who deny murdering Margaret Fleming at the home they shared at Seacroft, Main Road, Inverkip, between December 1999 and January 5, 2000.

She was asked by prosecutor Iain McSporran QC: “Who lived in the house with Eddie Cairney and Avril Jones,” and mother-of-four Mrs Philips replied: “I thought it was just the two of them. I never saw anyone else.”

The High Court in Glasgow heard that Mrs Philips and the accused shared a driveway and she could see them coming and going and could also see through the fence at the back into their garden.

Mr McSporran said: “As far as a young woman being about the house in the late 1990's and coming and going up until 2016, do you have any recollection of that,” and the witness replied: “I have no recollection of that at all.”

Mrs Philips was asked by defence QC Iain Duguid, representing Jones: “Could you see people coming and going from their house,” and said: “Yes, but there were very few visitors.”

Robert Paterson, 79, from Gourock, said that Cairney told him that Margaret ran away every two or three weeks.

Mr Paterson went to see his friend in a flat in Port Glasgow where he was living while police carried out a missing persons investigation on Margaret which was launched on October 28, 2016.

The court heard that the pair had bonded in the 1980's over an interest in weight lifting, swimming and scuba diving.

Referring to the night of October 28, 2016, he said: “Basically he told me that he had been out for a walk with Margaret. Probably that was the first time I'd heard that name. He said on the way back there was a police presence at the bungalow and Margaret ran away. "

Mr McSporran asked: “Did he say how long Margaret had been with him,” and Mr Paterson replied: “No. To be perfectly honest I wasn't interested. When anyone disappears where I come from they usually end up in the river.”

Mr Paterson said he asked Cairney if Margaret disappearing was a regular occurrence and added: “He said it was every two or three weeks. I asked why did she come back and he replied money.'

The witness told the jury that Cairney also claimed that he and Jones had travelled to the Millenium Dome in London in 2000 looking for Margaret.

Mr Paterson said that Cairney said Margaret had wanted to visit the dome and had run off when told she could not go there.

He added: “He said they visited the Dome in shifts and she never turned up. After that they were sitting in a cafe in Greenock, I think it was Tesco's, and Margaret walked in.”

Cairney and Jones deny murdering Margaret when she was 19. They also deny claiming £182,000 in benefits fraud by pretending she was alive.

The trial before Lord Matthews continues.