New homes to be built on site of Margaret Fleming cottage

Two new homes are set to be built on the site of a cottage where murder victim Margaret Fleming and her killers lived.

It is hoped the new builds will help “life the melancholy” and “bring new life” to the area to help “erase the memory of the dreadful event”.

Vulnerable Margaret Fleming was murdered by Edward Cairney, 77, and Avril Jones, 59, when she was a teenager in late 1999 or early 2000, but her body has never been found.

The trio lived at the cottage in Seacroft, Inverkip that was demolished after being sold for £120,000 in 2017.

Councillors in Inverclyde have now approved plans for the new “architect-designed” homes to be built at the 2,340 square metre site on the Clyde coast.

The “very sad” recent history of the site has been emphasised in a planning statement which reads: “It has been at the forefront of a murder inquiry and trial and as such has left this beautiful area of land with a melancholy that really needs to be lifted.

“It is in the interests of the area, and of course the nearby neighbours, to bring new life to this land and erase, where possible, the memory of this dreadful event.”

Last year Cairney and Jones were jailed for life over the murder that police believe took place at the turn of the millennium.

Edward Cairney and Avril Jones murdered vulnerable teenager Margaret Fleming.

Both will serve a minimum of 14 years behind bars.

The last independent sighting of Margaret was in December 1999 when she was 19-years-old.

After her disappearance Jones continued to claim £182,000 in benefits, despite telling the victim’s mother that she had run off with a traveller in 2000.

She kept claiming the benefits until October 2016 when it first emerged that Margaret was missing.

In a new application in 2016, Jones wrote that Margaret needs “constant care” and had self-harmed.

A missing person’s inquiry was launched by Police Scotland in October 2016 and the pair were arrested a year later.