Caroline Igoe facing life in jail after murdering boyfriend

After pulling the trigger killer Igoe, 32, went to the hospital to be at dying Martyn Barclay's bedside and in the wake of his death associated herself with his grieving relatives in an act described as "breathtaking hypocrisy".

The jury took less than three hours to return a unanimous verdict convicting Ms Igoe of murder.

As the verdict was read the Barclay family, who have sat through the four-week trial, screamed "yes" and "get in".

Ms Igoe showed no emotion.

She and her brother Paul Igoe or Hunter, 37, had denied murdering Mr Barclay, 26, by discharging a handgun at him on January 17 last year.

The jury of eight women and seven men acquitted Paul Igoe or Hunter of murder but found him guilty of other charges including being in possession of a gun and removing the gun from the crime scene.

Ms Igoe was also found guilty of being in possession of a gun and removing the gun from the crime scene.

After the shooting officers from the police armed response unit were called out to the hospital and one policewoman who spoke to Ms Igoe said she was very upset and wanting to know how her boyfriend was.

Ms Igoe also set up a tribute page to her boyfriend on the website Gone Too Soon describing him as her "soul-mate".

But witness Lisa Carson, 27, told the High Court in Edinburgh, she saw Ms Igoe just two or three weeks after Mr Barclay's death at auditions for cheerleading squad Score Angels.

Miss Carson later gave a statement saying that when Ms Igoe told her the police were looking into the shooting she asked how she was.

She said Ms Igoe replied: "I am gutted but I will get over it. I will get a new man."

Miss Carson added: "She said she would have to move on and that is what happens when you get involved with a bad boy."

Mr Barclay, who had worked as a labourer, was discovered dying in the street, outside the home he shared with Ms Igoe and her family at 12 Hazelwood Grove int he Inch by a man on his way to work.

He was taken to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary where a CT scan was taken and revealed the pathway of a bullet.

He had been shot in the temple and there was no exit wound.

Mr Barclay was transferred to the Western General Hospital but his injuries were assessed as "unsurvivable" and a decision was taken to withdraw life support.

He was described as a "devoted " dad to his three-year-old son Michael from a former relationship with Gill Lodge, 39.

His relationship with Gill ended towards the end of 2008 and he quickly became involved with Ms Igoe in November of that year.

In March last year the huge police inquiry into Mr Barclay's death made a major breakthrough when the murder weapon was discovered by a retired solicitor and his wife while walking in Woods near to Craigmillar Castle.

It was discovered the gun was a blank firing pistol converted into a lethal weapon that could fire bullets.

At its height the investigation involved around 63 police officers and staff.

Miss Carson, 27, a cheerleader with the Score Angels squad, who said she met Ms Igoe at an event in Falkirk, said during a car journey with her and Mr Barclay that they had spoken of having a gun.

She said during the journey Igoe said: "Aye Martyn showed me how to use a gun."

Miss Carson added that Martyn had laughed and said: "We need to keep it for safety the world we are in."

The court heard that Ms Igoe and Mr Barclay rowed over the phone in the hours leading up to his death. Ms Igoe told the court she hadn't wanted Mr Barclay to go out because she had a launch night the following evening in Glasgow and he was to go with her.

But she said she later had a number of phone conversations with him and that he had been "really drunk".

Ms Igoe told the court she had been in her bedroom at the time of the calls and was on Bebo website and was also checking the number of votes she had received in a competition called Uber Girl she had entered which she described as similar to Miss Scotland.

She was asked how she came to know Mr Barclay was lying outside.

She said: "I heard somebody shouting Caroline, I ignored it and I shouted through to my mum that he was shouting up and then I thought I heard a stone getting thrown at a window.

"My mum says to me I should get up and see to it.

"I looked out the window and saw Martyn lying on the ground and I thought he was drunk and carrying on."

The court heard when she went outside she saw Paul Igoe who picked a gun up and brought it to the door, but she admitted she did not tell police about this because she didn't want to get her brother in trouble.

Ms Igoe said when she first got in a relationship with Mr Barclay he had told her there were people after him.

She said: "He told me there had been turf wars against different parts of Edinburgh.

"It went in one ear and out the other."

Ms Igoe also said Mr Barclay told her there was a bounty on his head and he had been served with an Osman letter.

She was also asked how she came to have blood on her clothing.

Ms Igoe said: "I can't explain it but it could only be from trying to pick Martyn up in the street."

Her defence solicitor advocate Jim Keegan QC asked her about a pillowcase and socks found in the street both with her DNA.

He said: "Did you have anything to do with wrapping up this gun in a pillowcase and socks?"

Ms Igoe replied: "No".

In his cross examination advocate depute Alex Prentice QC said to Ms Igoe: "The truth is that you shot Martyn Barclay?"

She replied: "No I did not."

Mr Prentice said: "You then associated yourself with members of the Barclay family in an act of breathtaking hypocrisy?"

Ms Igoe said: "No I did not."

Margaret Igoe, 61, mother of Paul Igoe or Hunter and Ms Igoe, was accused by advocated depute Alex Prentice QC of creating a "wall of silence" around her family where no one said anything.

She admitted she later found out Paul had removed a gun from the scene and that she did not tell police this because she didn't want her son to get put in prison.

Detective Chief Inspector Steven Reed, 35, told the trial that he did not believe the shooting of Mr Barclay fitted the pattern for a gangland hit.

He said the fact the weapon was left at the scene was "unheard of" in his experience which included investigating matters which might be termed a gangland hit.

DCI Reed agreed there was information suggesting that there was a bounty or price on Mr Barclay's head but there was no record of a personal safety warning or Osman letter being served by the police, warnings which are issued when they are aware of a danger to life.

During interviews with police Ms Igoe told them as far as she was concerned her relationship with Mr Barclay was perfect.

But detectives said their inquiries had uncovered information that might not be the case and that he might have met another woman.

In questioning Ms Igoe, who also worked as a hairdresser, said: "Do you not think I want to know who murdered Martyn? Of course I do."

The court also heard from Kenneth Carruthers, 37, of Penicuik, Midlothian, who said his friend Paul Igoe or Hunter told him that Mr Barclay shot himself.

He said he had fallen asleep at Paul Igoe's then home at Walter Scott Avenue, near the scene of the shooting in the city's Inch area, and was woken by Paul shaking his arm.

"He just said Martyn had shot himself," the painter and decorator said.

He added that he thought Paul had been wearing trainers.

"It looked like there was blood on them. It was spots," he said.

Mr Carruthers said Paul had a heavier looking blue carrier bag in his hand and when he asked what was in it Paul said the gun.

The court heard when he awoke in the morning he opened the bag and picked the gun up because he didn't know if it was real.

He put it back in the bag and went back to drinking.

He also said he remembered being in woods with Joseph Igoe, Paul's brother, but added: "I didn't see the gun going in the hole."

Mr Carruthers was formerly a co-accused of Paul and Caroline Igoe after denying firearms charges and attempting to defeat the ends of justice but he was aquitted of the charges against him after the Crown withdrew them.

Caroline and Paul Igoe had denied all the allegations against them.