Murder of Margaret Fleming

Margaret Fleming (1 November 1980 – c. December 1999/January 2000) was a Scottish woman who was murdered by her nominated carers Edward Cairney (1941 – 2023) and Avril Jones (b.

After her father died in 1995, Fleming began to live with a couple he had been close friends with and who he had named as her guardians in his will – Edward Cairney and Avril Jones.

Upon investigation, it was discovered the last independent sighting of Margaret Fleming was on 17 December 1999, when she had visited the brother of Jones with the couple at his house.

He said she had been in Poland and was working as a gang master, hiring agricultural workers in the south of England and was involved in the illegal drugs trade.

Following trial, in 2019 Cairney and Jones were both convicted of Margaret Fleming's murder and of perverting the course of justice on majority jury verdicts.

[4] "Seacroft", the bungalow where Fleming, Cairney and Jones lived, stood on the coast, beside the A78 road about 500 metres (550 yd) to the south of the village.