'Evil, greedy' couple jailed for murdering woman with learning difficulties who vanished 20 years ago

Pair’s silence surrounding body’s location ‘remains a source of immense grief’ for victim’s mother

A “greedy, evil” couple who murdered a woman with learning difficulties they were meant to have been caring for have been jailed for life.

Edward Cairney and Avril Jones will serve at least 14 years behind bars some two decades after their victim, Margaret Fleming, vanished from ”the face of the Earth”. Her body was never found.

Jones was also found guilty of fraudulently claiming £182,000 in benefits by pretending Fleming, who would now have been 38, was still alive and the pair were both convicted of perverting the course of justice.

Jurors found they murdered the woman at some point between 18 December 1999 and 5 January 2000 and in a manner unknown, either at their home in Inverclyde or elsewhere in Scotland, before launching a cover-up attempt lasting 18 years.

During their trial, which began in April, prosecutors described Fleming as a “friendless and lonely” young woman with significant difficulties. She moved in with her eventual killers as a teenager after her father died, when those closest to her “didn’t want her”. Cairney was friendly with Fleming’s father.

The last independent sighting of her was at a family event on 17 December 1999, it was said.

But police launched an investigation after it became apparent in October 2016 that Fleming was missing, after enquiries by social services sparked concerns about where she was. Her supposed carers were arrested a year later.

At the High Court in Glasgow on Wednesday, Judge Lord Matthews told Cairney and Jones that “only you two know where her remains are” and that they had spun a “callous and calculating” web of deceit around Fleming’s death.

Margaret Fleming, who was reported missing in October 2016 from her home in Inverkip, Inverclyde (PA)

He added: ”That remains a source of immense grief as far as her mother is concerned. It seems obvious that the motive for the murder and cover up was financial.”

Both Cairney, 77, and 59-year-old Jones insist they are innocent and claim to believe Fleming is still alive, their lawyers said.

Detective Superintendent Paul Livingstone, the top police officer investigating the murder, said: ”Margaret was a very vulnerable young woman when she was abused, neglected, manipulated and murdered by these two greedy, evil individuals.

“Margaret’s family and friends will never know just what happened to her and they have been denied the right to pay their final respects to her at her funeral.

“I would say to Cairney and Jones – if you have a scrap of decency you will give the answers to the questions that Margaret’s family deserve.

“I am willing to meet either of them so that they can tell me in order to provide some kind of comfort to her family and allow them to put her to rest finally.”

Additional reporting by PA