Mary McLaughlin: Son recalls finding mother's body in 1984

Mary McLaughlin was found dead in her Partick flat on 2 October 1984

The son of a woman who was strangled in her flat more than 36 years ago has recalled the moment her body was found.

Martin Cullen and his late partner discovered Mary McLaughlin, 58, in her Partick flat on 2 October 1984.

Mr Cullen was giving evidence as Graham McGill, who denies the murder, went on trial at the High Court in Glasgow.

The jury heard that the mother-of-11 was strangled by a strip of cloth which had been wound around her neck three times.

On the opening day of the trial, Mr Cullen said he could not get an answer and noticed a strange smell when he turned up at his mother's flat.

Prosecutor Alex Prentice QC asked Mr Cullen what it was like and he replied: "The most horrible smell you could imagine."

Mr Cullen told the jury he got a key from a neighbour, but was still unable to get in the house.

He added: "I kicked the door in."

'My mum was dead'

His ex-partner June Brittle, who has since died, was with him. She went into the flat and came out screaming.

Mr Prentice asked the witness if he understood what had been found.

Mr Cullen, 60, replied: "My mum was dead."

Mr McGill, 59, is alleged to have assaulted Ms McLaughlin with intent to rape her and strangled her with a ligature.

The offence is alleged to have taken place at her home in Crathie Court, Laurel Street, on the 26 or 27 September 1984.

McGill is also accused of stealing a set of keys from Ms McLaughlin's home.

In a joint minute of agreed facts read to the jurors, Mr Prentice stated that when she was found the victim was lying on a bed on her back with her right arm lying on the side of the bed and her legs apart.

He added: "The body was in a state of putrefaction, especially of the face. A ligature was tied tightly round her neck and knotted on the side and deeply indented into the flesh of her neck.

"There was no trace of blood about the body or bed. A tie from a lady's dress or an apron passed round the neck three times with two knots in it."

Pathologists estimate that Ms McLaughlin had died at least five days before the post-mortem examination, which was held on 2 October.

Mother was 'scared'

Under cross-examination by defence counsel Sarah Livingstone, Mr Cullen admitted that he told police in a statement in 1984 that his mother was "scared" about a month prior to her death.

The court heard the last sightings of Mary alive were at the Hyndland Bar and then Armando's chip shop in Patrick on 26 September 1984.

A taxi driver later told the jury that he saw a man following Ms McLaughlin, whom he knew to see as "Wee May"

David Seager, 63, said she walked in front of his taxi carrying her shoes in her hands on 26 September.

He said: "She seemed drunk."

Mr Seager also told the court he saw a man standing outside a shoe shop.

He was asked by Mr Prentice if he thought the man was following her.

The witness replied: "Well yes. Every time Mary walked away he was always behind her."

'She was happy'

Earlier, one of Mary's daughters Catherine Mullen said her mother was happy and playing dominoes in the Hyndland Bar on the night she died.

Ms Mullen, 73, said that she had to leave her to catch a bus home and never saw her alive again.

Ms Livingstone asked the witness if her mother was drunk that night.

She replied: "She didn't act drunk, she was happy."

Ms Mullen agreed that her mother would sometimes invite people back to her flat when she had been drinking.

In her police statement she said that on one occasion her mother invited home two men, one she knew and another she didn't know.

When asked about this in the witness box she said she couldn't remember.

Mr McGill was arrested and charged with Ms McLaughlin's murder on 4 December 2019 and made no reply.

He faces a further charge of threatening to murder Suzanne Russell and children at an address in Motherwell, North Lanarkshire, between 1 January 1985 and 31 December 1988.

Mr McGill denies all the charges against him.

The trial, before judge Lord Burns, continues.