Conwoman Jailed Over Extortion Of Suicide Pact Mum And Daughter
A West Lothian woman behind an extraordinary web of deceit and lies'' has been locked up for three years for trying to extort money from a mother and daughter who later died in an apparent suicide pact.
Margaret McDonough, 52, and her 23-year-old daughter Nicola were found injured at a Premier Inn in Greenock, on May 10 2013.
Linsey Cotton, 33, from West Lothian, was jailed at Paisley Sheriff Court after admitting fraud and threatening the women in an elaborate extortion plot.
Margaret and Nicola's family later branded the conwoman evil''.
Passing sentence, Sheriff Robert Fife condemned Cotton's conduct as deplorable'' andcallous''.
He said: The agreed crown narrative discloses an extraordinary, complex and intricate web of deceit and lies.
This agreed narrative of the background facts discloses a wicked course of conduct, a course of controlling and manipulative behaviour.''
The sheriff's sentencing statement was released following the hearing by Scotland's Judicial Office.
Ms McDonough, who was discovered in a bedroom, died first while her social-work student daughter, who was found in the hotel hallway, died three days later in hospital, where she had been in a critical condition.
The sheriff, who passed on his sympathies to the McDonough family and friends for their terrible loss'', said Cotton's scheme had demonstrateda very high level of planning over months and months with the deceit increasing and lies escalating to a frenzy'' in the weeks leading up to May 2013.
The court heard that Cotton invented a series of fictitious personas as part of her plot to dupe the vulnerable'' people. She also sent hundreds of threatening texts.