Man appears in court charged with murder of woman 35 years ago

A man has appeared in court charged with the murder of a woman in Glasgow 35 years ago.

The man has appeared in private at the Glasgow sheriff court charged with the murder

Mary McLaughlin, 58, was last seen alive on 26 September 1984 when she left a bar in the Hyndland area of Glasgow after a night out.

Her body was found six days later in her home in Laurel Street in Partick.

Despite extensive inquiries at the time, no one was arrested or charged in connection with her death.

But yesterday, Graham McGill, from Glasgow, appeared in private at the city’s sheriff court charged with her murder.

The 58-year-old made no plea and was remanded in custody pending a further court appearance.

It comes after a new investigation was launched by detectives from Police Scotland’s Homicide Governance Review team.

Detective Chief Inspector Suzanne Chow said: “Undetected and unresolved homicides in Scotland are never closed and the families of victims are never forgotten.

“Our Homicide Governance Review team keep every undetected and unresolved case under review, and will continue to investigate any new information or lines of inquiry which come to light.

“The passage of time is no barrier to our investigations, and a re-investigation into Mrs McLaughlin’s murder has now resulted in the arrest and charge of a man 35 years later.”

Mrs McLaughlin, a mother to six girls and five boys, was last seen leaving the Hyndland Bar and walking along Dumbarton Road towards the local chip shop, Armandos.

Witnesses said she was in a good mood that night and had been laughing and joking with staff.

Speaking two years ago, one of her daughters, Gina, described the pain of losing her mother.

She said: “It’s bad enough losing your mum at a young age. For her to be murdered makes it so much worse, and then to be denied any justice for all these years means you never find closure.

“I’ve never forgotten my mum and I often thought the police didn’t care as time went by, though I understood they had to give priority to fresh cases.

“But I feel there is real hope that we might get a positive result at last.”

The same year, her son, Martin, said: “I’ll never get over her death. I still have trouble sleeping – something like that has a very big impact on your life.”