Allison McGarrigle killers make second appeal

Charles O'Neill and William Lauchlan have already had an appeal rejected by the Supreme Court in London

Two paedophiles have launched another legal challenge against their conviction for murdering a woman and dumping her body at sea.

William Lauchlan, 37, and Charles O'Neill, 51, killed Allison McGarrigle in Largs in 1997 as she planned to report them for abusing a boy.

The 39-year-old's body has never been found.

The Court of Criminal Appeal in Edinburgh heard that the new challenge was over a "prejudicial question".

At their original trial, a police officer describing efforts to trace Mrs McGarrigle after she went missing in 1998 said - in answer to a question from judge Lord Pentland - that he thought she was dead.

'Proof of life'

Lawyers for the two men claim the question, which prosecutor Dorothy Bain QC had "pointedly" not asked, made the trial unfair.

They said the police officer was not an expert witness and should not have been asked to give an opinion on the "proof of life" report.

Defence QC Gordon Jackson, for Lauchlan, told appeal judges: "One feature of this case was whether the lady was dead at all."

Allison McGarrigle's body has never been found

Mr Jackson said part of the defence case was that Mrs McGarrigle was still alive.

"It was a hugely prejudicial question which usurped the jury function and should not have been allowed at all," he said.

Mr Jackson also argued that prosecutors had relied on supposed comments Lachlan had made to others about disposing of Mrs McGarrigle's body to convict him of murder.

He said that in Scots law there was no such thing as "an accessory after the fact" and that even if Lachlan had a hand in dumping the body, that did not make him a murderer.

Mr Jackson claimed Lord Pentland had not explained that issue properly to the jury.

Solicitor advocate John Carroll, for O'Neill, told Lady Paton, sitting with Lady Clark and Lord Philip, also claimed that the police search for Mrs McGarrigle had not been thorough enough.

'Feeding the fishes'

Mrs McGarrigle met O'Neill and Lauchlan in 1994 after moving to Rothesay, Isle of Bute, following a split from her husband Robert.

She was introduced to them by the boy they went on to groom and abuse.

During a court hearing in 2010 it emerged that she lived in fear of the men and had threatened to tell police about their abuse of the child.

She was reported missing by her husband in 1998 and legally declared dead seven years later.

The trial heard of a violent row in June 1997 when Lauchlan pushed Mrs McGarrigle as she yelled: "I know what you are up to and I will make sure I see what is coming to you."

The trial heard she was never seen again and O'Neill later boasted: "She is feeding the fishes."

Previous appeal

Lauchlan is serving a minimum sentence of 26 years and O'Neill a minimum sentence of 30 years for her murder.

After the trial in 2010 it emerged that they were predatory paedophiles with convictions for sex assault and rape of children.

They offered their services as babysitters, particularly to women with drink problems to gain access to their victims.

The appeal judges will give their decision in writing at a later date.

Both men have already complained that trial judge Lord Pentland was biased and had an appeal rejected by the Supreme Court in London.

They also have outstanding appeals against sex abuse convictions.