Prisoner Who Murdered Teenager and Scammed Benefits for 18 Years Dies
Avril Jones has died at HMP Stirling after being convicted of murdering vulnerable Margaret Fleming and collecting £182,000 in fraudulent benefits.
POLICY WIRE — Inverkip, Scotland — The woman who orchestrated the murder of a vulnerable teenager and subsequently embezzled her welfare payments for nearly two decades has passed away while in custody.
Avril Jones, aged 66, died as an inmate at HMP Stirling on November 8. She and her 82-year-old partner, Edward Cairney, were both found guilty of the killing of Margaret Fleming.
Fleming was 19 years old when she was last seen at a family gathering in December 1999. Despite having learning difficulties, she lived with Cairney and Jones in a deteriorating cottage in Inverkip after they took over her care following the death of her father.
Legal proceedings determined that the pair killed Fleming between December 1999 and January 2000. Following the death, Jones managed to secure £182,000 in benefits while the duo maintained a complex deceptions to hide the crime.
Law enforcement characterized the cover-up as both “greedy” and fantastical. While Fleming was officially reported as missing in 2016, her remains have never been recovered.
The two defendants received their convictions at the High Court in Glasgow in 2019. On what would have been the victim’s 39th birthday, detectives made a final plea to Cairney and Jones to disclose the location of Fleming’s body.
A representative for the Scottish Prison Service noted that every death, whether occurring within the community or behind bars, represents a tragedy for those who supported the individual. They confirmed that Police Scotland was notified of the death and referred the matter to the procurator fiscal for fatal accident inquiries to follow.
The investigation into Fleming’s disappearance began in October 2016 after standard social service checks raised red flags about her safety. Her carers were not arrested until a year later in 2017.
During the 2019 trial, prosecutors portrayed Fleming as a lonely and friendless youth who struggled with significant challenges. She had moved to the accused’ Seacroft home as a teenager because her other relatives did not want her.
By late 1999, the household was receiving various payments for Fleming. The Crown argued the couple found it tempting to keep the financial gain without the burden of actually caring for her. Because there is no body or identified crime scene, the exact circumstances of Fleming’s death remain a mystery, leading prosecutors to claim they literally got away with murder for 16 years.
Reporting by Policy-Wire (PW)
