COPS revealed how a cigarette butt held the key to solve the murder of a mum-of-eleven 30 years after she was killed.
Mary McLaughlin, 58, was found dead at her home in the west end of Glasgow after being brutally killed on September 27 1984.
BBCMary was murdered on September 27 1984[/caption]
The SunThe mum-of-eleven was killed in her third-floor flat at Crathie Court in Laurel St, Partick, Glasgow[/caption]
The Crown OfficeShe was found on a bare mattress with her dress on back-to-front[/caption]
Her son, Martin Cullen, tragically discovered the body on October 2 after visiting to check in, as he did once a week.
He noticed a bad smell and walked in on his mother’s lifeless body lying on a bare mattress, with her dress on back-to-front.
Mary had been out enjoying herself with friends in the Hyndland Pub on the night of her death.
She set off alone to walk home, which was less than a mile away, between 10.15pm and 10.30pm.
On her journey the 58-year-old stopped to buy some food and cigarettes at Armando’s chip shop on Dumbarton Road.
Police later interviewed a taxi driver, who knew Mary as Wee May, and he said he saw her walking barefoot while a man followed her.
Mary was then strangled to death with her dressing gown cord in her flat and found five days later.
Police found no evidence of forced entry, and the case hit a wall after collecting more than 1,000 statements that upturned nothing.
A new BBC documentary, Murder Case: The Hunt for Mary McLaughlin’s Killer, details how the cold case was solved three decades on.
Mary’s daughter Gina told the documentary she had always suspected “a hidden killer within the family”.
Her mum, who had 11 kids by two fathers, ultimately left her second partner with all the children.
Gina said the move was not received well, and some siblings wondered if Mary’s own brood could be involved.
Despite four reviews by 2008, there were no leads in the cold case.
But, in 2014, a new DNA-profiling facility allowed for more in-depth testing.
Mary was last spotted walking home alone and barefoot
BBCJoanne Cochran, a senior forensic scientist based at the SCC, found the DNA match[/caption]
BBCMary’s son Martin found her body five days after she was killed[/caption]
The technology, at the Scottish Crime Campus in North Lanarkshire, meant scientists could identify 24 DNA markers, as opposed to the previous 11.
Detectives were able to pull results from lower quality samples, such as Mary’s hair, nails and cigarette butts, which had been kept in paper bags for 30 years.
Investigators looked at one cigarette end in particular.
It was found in an ash tray in Mary’s flat, but was not the brand she preferred.
Ms Cochrane, a senior forensic scientist based at the SCC, told the documentary: “Then we get this Eureka moment, our Eureka moment, where the cigarette end, which previously didn’t give us a DNA profile is now giving us a full male profile.
“This is something we have never had before and it is the first evidentially significant piece of forensic science in the case.”
The forensic scientist sent the cigarette of for testing and had “goose bumps” when she hit a “Direct Match”.
The name Graham McGill came back from the database of convicted criminals.
McGill, a serial sex offender, had been at a prison in Edinburgh at the time.
Detectives were stumped and knew they had to build a much stronger case against McGill.
Mary had been strangled with her own dressing gown cord, which scientists tested for more DNA.
Again, it came back with positive matches to McGill, while his semen was also traced on Mary’s dress.
But Former Det Sgt Kenny McCubbin, told the documentary: “It didn’t matter what DNA we had.
“He’s got the perfect alibi. How could he commit the murder if he was in prison?”
Detectives weren’t able to find documentation from the prison because a lack of technology meant paperwork was lost.
However, McCubbin took his search to the National Records of Scotland, in Edinburgh, and actually managed to track down the prison governor’s journals.
He discovered McGill had been TTF, Training for Freedom, at the time of Mary’s murder.
This meant he was allowed home at the weekends, and gave him the opportunity to commit the heinous crime.
Log books also confirmed he went back to his cell just hours after ending the beloved grandmother’s life.
McGill, 59 at the time, was arrested on December 4, 2019, while working as a fabricator in Glasgow at the time.
The murderer, who was 22 when he killed Mary, was convicted after a four-day trial in April 2021 and sentenced to a minimum of 14 years.
The judge, Lord Burns, told the High Court: “Her family has had to wait all that time in order to discover who was responsible for that act knowing that whoever did it was probably at large in the community.
“They had never given up the hope that some day they would find out what had happened to her.”
Gina added: “I never thought I would see it in my lifetime.”
PAGraham McGill was sentenced to a minimum of 14 years for the murder[/caption]
BBCMary was 58-years-old when she was strangled to death inside her own flat[/caption]
BBCGina had previously suspected a ‘hidden killer’ in the family[/caption] Published: [#item_custom_pubDate]
