She was married to the artist Sebastian Horsley from 1983–1990, ran various art therapy groups in Scotland during the 1980s (some with Jimmy Boyle), and set up the design company Precious McBane with Meriel Scott in 1993.
[1] In 1983 she completed a foundation degree at the Chelsea College of Arts and was offered the chance to study sculpture at Central Saint Martins.
She accepted the place, but deferred her entry in order to co-direct the Gateway Exchange project in Edinburgh, with reformed gangster Jimmy Boyle and his wife; a charitable organisation designed to rehabilitate drug addicts and ex-convicts through art therapy.
In 1987 she co-founded the Fighting Back workshops, which used art therapy to raise awareness of and reduce suffering for victims of HIV and AIDS.
[2] In 1990 she moved to London and attended Central Saint Martins, also divorcing from Sebastian Horsley (reportedly after both she and he had engaged in long term affairs with Jimmy Boyle).