Estranged wife accused of murdering Ross MacGillivray in Inverness
The estranged wife of an alleged murder victim has appeared in private at Inverness Sheriff Court accused of torturing and killing her husband.
Samantha MacGillivray (32), became the third person to be charged with murdering Ross MacGillivray (36) in a house in St Ninian Drive, Inverness on November 11/12 last year.
Two men have already appeared in court charged with murdering him.
• Sign up for our free newsletters
Craig Hayden (28), from Alness, and Leon Headey (21), from Liverpool, have both been remanded in custody since their court appearance last November.
But when MacGillivray appeared before Sheriff David Harvie represented by Inverness solicitor Willie Young, he successfully argued that she should be released on bail.
MacGillivray had been arrested earlier this week at a house in Portsmouth and was taken north yesterday for today’s court sitting.
She faces three charges - the first being that on November 9, she assaulted her estranged husband and repeatedly struck him on the head and body to his injury.
The second is one of murder. It is alleged that whilst acting with others on November 11, 2023, MacGillivray restrained her husband, tied his wrists and ankles together, removed his clothing, poured water over his head, repeatedly punched him on the head and body and kicked and stamped on his head and body.
The charge continues that she and others repeatedly struck him on the head and body with blunt instruments meantime unknown to the prosecutor, or otherwise inflicted blunt force trauma to his head whereby he was so seriously injured that he died and you did murder him, and it will be proved that the offence was aggravated by a connection with serious organised crime and abuse of her partner.
Charge number three claims that on November 11, 2023 at St Ninian Drive and a path next to the Caledonian Canal, she and others having committed the crime and being conscious of guilt, did spray surfaces you had touched in the house with a cleaning product, took possession of items she had touched, including twine, bottles, cigarette butts and clothing, placed them into bags together with blood-stained clothing worn by the deceased, took them to the path and disposed of them there.
In the charge she is accused of pretending to police that she had been abducted by two associates unknown to her who had committed murder and disposed of them in the canal which she did to conceal or destroy evidence to avoid detection, arrest, and prosecution and she did with intent to defeat the ends of justice and did attempt to defeat the ends of justice.
MacGillivray made no plea.
