Man strangled mother and hid corpse under caravan in Fife

Lorraine Bristow Taggart speaks outside the court yesterday. Picture: Neil Hanna

Ross Taggart, 31, murdered 54-year-old Carol at her home in Dunfermline, Fife, in December last year.

He then set about a “calculated course of deceit” as he attempted to cover up his crime by wrapping her body in bedding and hiding it under a static caravan at Pettycur Bay in Kingshorn before reporting her missing to police.

Her body was found by officers on 11 January this year.

Within hours of taking his mother’s life Taggart had arranged for “a casual sexual encounter” with a woman previously unknown to him.

Taggart had denied murder but was found guilty yesterday following a trial at the High Court in Edinburgh.

He was jailed for life and told he will serve a minimum of 18 years in prison. Judge Lord Uist told Taggart: “You have been convicted by the unanimous verdict of the jury of the terrible crime of the murder of your mother, a woman who did a great deal, indeed, probably too much, for you in the course of her life.

“In the course of an argument ... you caused her head injuries and throttled her to death. You thereafter embarked on a calculated course of deceit by reporting her as missing to the police and persistently lying about your actions.”

Lord Uist added: “You have shown no regret or remorse and even continued to deny your involvement before the jury in the face of overwhelming and unanswerable evidence against you.

“Your response to the evidence against you was at times ludicrous. How you have lived with your conscience since you murdered your mother, I do not know.”

After sentencing, Ross Taggart’s sister, Lorraine Bristow Taggart,27, wept as she spoke outside the court.

She said: “As a family we will try to move forward. However, even given today’s outcome, we shall never get over my mum Carol’s death. We will simply get further away from the event.

“She was a 54-year-old mum and a gran of five.

“Despite her strong-willed nature, she was loved by us all and is missed every day by us and we are devastated by how cruelly she was taken from us.”

Speaking after sentencing, John Dunn, procurator fiscal for the east of Scotland, said: “Ross Taggart murdered his mother and then sought to cover up his callous crime by concealing her body and pretending she had left the area after an argument.

“All murders are shocking but the murder of a parent by one of their own children makes it particularly so. It was an appalling crime which stunned not only all those who knew Carol-Anne but also the local community.

“Our thoughts are with the family and friends of Carol-Anne.”