The “friendly and trusting” nature of a woman strangled in her own flat ultimately brought about her death, a court has been told.
Mary McLaughlin, 58, a mother of 11, was found dead at her home in Partick in Glasgow’s west end in October 1984 after enjoying a night out at bars playing dominoes, the High Court in Glasgow has heard.
Graham McGill, 59, denies murdering her and fastening a belt from her dressing gown around her throat with intent to rape on September 26 or 27 of that year.
Yesterday Alex Prentice QC, for the prosecution, said in his closing speech to the jury: “She trusted people. That may be an interpretation you have of Mary McLaughlin: someone who was friendly and trusting and I suggest that ultimately brought about her death.
“You might form the impression she was someone perhaps a little lonely, someone who would go out and meet with people to gain some happiness in her life. People went back to her flat, it was part of her trusting nature.”
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He told jurors, who are not in the courtroom but are watching proceedings from a cinema in Braehead: “I suggest there’s really no question that Mary McLaughlin was murdered, she was strangled. I suggest you can conclude this was a sexual attack . . . the evidence in this case I suggest provides a body of cogent evidence which points toward the guilt of Graham McGill.”
The prosecution says that DNA samples found on her dress, inside the knot of the dressing gown cord, a cigarette end, and a black bra found near her flat are all attributable to McGill.
Yesterday two charges against McGill were withdrawn: stealing a set of keys from McLaughlin’s flat, and threatening to murder his former partner and children at a house in Motherwell, North Lanarkshire, between 1985 and 1988. The judge, Lord Burns, told McGill: “Since the Crown have withdrawn charges two and three, I formally acquit you of those charges.”
Sarah Livingstone, for the defence, said in her closing speech to the jury that there was no doubt McLaughlin was murdered but the issue was who was responsible. She said: “The indictment is the Crown’s theory about what happened because they have absolutely no eye witnesses. They rely on circumstantial evidence which by its nature is capable of more than one interpretation. You are being asked to speculate.”
Livingstone told the jury that they should not rely on DNA evidence. She said: “DNA is not a magic solution to solve a crime.”
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Referring to DNA attributed to McGill being found on the ligature, she said: “You don’t have to touch anything for your DNA to be on it. It can be put on to items by secondary transfer.”
The trial continues.