Ex-police officer admits crashing into funeral home in attempt to kill partner

A former policeman has been convicted of attempting to murder his ex-partner and her mother by driving his car through the window of their funeral directors.

William McBurnie scarred Zoe Turnbull for life and caused serious harm to her 71-year-old mother Beverley in the incident in Jedburgh in December 2022.

At the High Court in Livingston, Judge Lord Mulholland described the accused’s deliberate bid to kill his former partner as a “cowardly and selfish act”.

He told the 57-year-old to be under no illusion that he was going to be sent to prison for “a very long time”.

The court heard that McBurnie, a former advanced driver and driving instructor with the Police Service of Northern Ireland, had been drinking whisky since 6am on the day of the attack.

He was nearly three times the drink drive limit when he deliberately accelerated along an adjoining street and drove “at speed” through a give way sign towards the shop in Market Street.

His car mounted the pavement, smashed through two large flower planters and through the plate glass window, sending glass flying everywhere and hitting the office desk so hard it was impaled in a rear wall.

CCTV footage of the incident shows how close McBurnie came to hitting both women as they desperately pressed themselves against the side walls of the office.

As he climbed out of the wreckage the two women were seen in the background hugging each other outside the shop.

Advocate depute Alex Price Marmion said McBurnie had been seen stopping his car at the junction opposite the shop on two occasions the previous week.

On the day of the attack he was again seen pausing at the junction before turning to the right and driving off after a customer left the undertakers.

Moments later, after driving round a triangle of roads in Jedburgh town centre, Ms Turnbull spotted McBurnie’s car speeding straight towards the glass-fronted office.

She shouted to her mother, who was standing behind a frosted glass panel of the front window: “He’s coming. He’s coming. He’s coming through the window.”

She pinned herself against the side wall of the office as the accused’s car crashed through, narrowly missing the two of them.

The accused, who suffered a burn injury to his wrist as the car’s airbags went off, immediately said: “Sorry. I don’t know what I was thinking.”

The advocate depute said Ms Turnbull, 46, had suffered a bruised leg and had since been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of the incident.

She also now had tinnitus, deafness in her right ear and a low tolerance of noise and had experienced two episodes of cardiac arrest from “broken heart syndrome”, caused by extreme stress.

Her mother had experienced atrial fibrillation, breathlessness and fatigue. Both women submitted victim impact statements to the court.

The advocate depute said the accused had been drinking heavily for several months following the break-up of his relationship with Ms Turnbull and had been behaving in an increasingly alarming manner towards her.

He had bombarded her with unwanted texts, phone calls and emails and repeatedly turned up at her office begging her to restart their relationship.

Gareth Jones, defending, said McBurnie, who worked as a freelance photographer for a Borders newspaper, had expressed “genuine remorse” for his actions.

He added that the accused only had a vague recollection of what was going through his mind about Zoe Turnbull at the time of the offence.

However, he accepted that his actions had been “entirely reckless” and that he had done it with the intention of killing her.

The court called for background reports and adjourned the case until September 19 at Livingston. McBurnie was remanded in custody until then.

‘Reign of terror’

Ms Turnbull spoke of the abuse she suffered at the hands of McBurnie after his court appearance.

The 46-year-old said the former police officer “inserted himself into her life” and she became trapped in the relationship fearing for the safety of herself and her kids if she was to leave.

In a statement issued through her lawyers Digby Brown, the funeral director said: “I never wanted to be in a relationship with him but when I tried to tell him or stand up for myself he would kick off.

“He would grab me and physically and sexually assault me. I was trapped in my own home.

“Behind closed doors he was controlling every aspect of my life through his mental and physical abuse yet in public he would act charming to everyone. It made me feel sick.

“That man aggressively inserted himself into our lives. He exerted a continuous reign of terror on me and my family.

“I’m glad his true self can now be revealed as a result of this conviction – I’m now determined to stay strong and take back control of my life.

“We as a society can’t let evil, manipulative people like this be allowed to inflict their harmful will on others.

“I just want to thank the local community for their support over the last 22 months because knowing you’re no longer alone is key to feeling empowered and being able to move forwards.”