Prosecutors bid to confiscate almost £200k from carers who killed Margaret Fleming

Prosecutors want to confiscate £182,000 from a couple who were jailed for murdering a vulnerable woman in their care.

Edward Cairney and Avril Jones.

Crown Office lawyers have launched proceedings at the High Court in Edinburgh against Edward Cairney,77, and 59-year-old Avril Jones.

The pair are currently serving life sentences for the murder of Margaret Fleming,19, between December 1999 and January 2000.

Both Cairney and Jones were supposed to care for Margaret. But Jones continued to claim £182,000 in benefits until it finally emerged that Margaret was missing in October 2016.

Police suspected the duo took Margaret’s life at their cottage in Inverkip, Renfrewshire,. However, her body has never been found.

Judge Lord Matthews told the couple they’d have to serve at least 14 years before they’d be able to apply for parole.

He told them: “Only you two know the truth. Only you know where her remains are. Margaret Fleming was a vulnerable young woman with evident difficulties. She was in your care and you breached the trust placed in you.”

Now the two criminals face the prospect of having to hand the cash back to the Crown who have launched proceeds of crime proceedings against them.

On Monday, Cairney’s advocate Frances Connor told judge Lord Pentland that it would take six weeks for his legal team to prepare their responses to Crown demands.

Jones’s lawyer John McElroy also said he needed time to prepare the case.

Lord Pentland then continued the case. It will next call at the High Court in Edinburgh in mid October 2019.