Women cleared of killing security guard who tried to stop shoplifting

A woman and her mother were cleared of killing a store security manager as he acted to stop her from shoplifting from his workplace.

Bill Ireland, 62, collapsed and died after intervening as thief Nicola Gordon tried to leave the premises of the Rejects department store in Kirkcaldy, in Fife, with stolen goods.

Nicola Gordon, 37, and her mother, Teresa Gordon, 59, were accused of killing Mr Ireland on January 6, 2023, after assaulting him at the shop.

It was alleged that they struggled with him, attempted to wrestle a rucksack and jacket from him, behaved in an aggressive manner towards him and struck him on the legs with a zimmer frame, whereby he sustained a cardiac arrhythmia, fell to the ground and died.

The pair denied the charge and a jury of 13 women and two men at the High Court in Edinburgh acquitted them of the offence on majority not proven verdicts.

They had originally faced a further charge of stealing tins of paint and knife blocks from the shop but that was withdrawn by the Crown during the trial.

The trial judge, Lady Ross, told jurors: “This has been a difficult case in many respects. There are no easy or pleasant cases in the High Court. All cases that come before the High Court are difficult and this is no exception.”

Nicola Gordon, of Kirkcaldy, told the court that at the time of the death, she was addicted to crack cocaine and heroin and went shoplifting to fund her drug habit.

She said her addiction cost her “hundreds of pounds” a day and agreed that it was possibly more than £1,400 a week. Stolen goods would be passed to dealers for drugs.

Advocate depute Alan Mackay asked if she was doing this on a regular basis to fund her habit for Class A drugs and she replied: “I was.”

She admitted that on the day of Mr Ireland’s death she stole four tins of paint before he intervened.

Gordon, who said she was a former addict, said that at the time she weighed about seven stone.

She said Mr Ireland got a hold of her by the “scruff” of her jacket and pinned her against a wall as she started panicking.

She said: “I didn’t know who the man was. He still had not disclosed to me he was a security guard by this point. I have been caught shoplifting before and I have never experienced anything like that.”

She said her mother pushed her wheeled walking frame towards the security officer shouting: “Get your f—ing hands off my daughter.”

Teresa Gordon, of Kirkcaldy, said she accepted that it appeared on footage that was shown to the jury that she was pushing her walking frame towards Mr Ireland.

A store employee told the court that after Mr Ireland fell, she was saying: “I never touched him, I never touched him. I hope you die you bastard.”

The mother said she was “disgusted” by her daughter’s behaviour when she realised she was shoplifting from the store.

She said: “I loved Rejects. I got all my stuff from Rejects.”

She told the court: “My daughter never assaulted Mr Ireland. That’s not true.”

The court heard that Mr Ireland took medication for high blood pressure but, following a post-mortem, was found to have significant coronary artery disease.

Consultant cardiologist Dr Stuart Hutcheon said it was almost certain that the events exacerbated his heart conditions.

“He is asymptomatic prior to the altercation but when the events occurred, Mr Ireland underwent sudden and significant physical and emotional stress which are clear triggers for myocardial ischemia in people with underlying obstructive coronary artery disease,” he said.

“The reduced blood supply to the heart in turn caused Mr Ireland to suffer a fatal cardiac arrhythmia.”

The trial judge, Lady Ross, told the mother and daughter: “By the verdicts of the jury you have each been acquitted of the charge against you that remains. You are now discharged from the dock and are free to go.”