Murderer demands to keep jewellery he stole off mother after strangling her

Family in bid for law change to stop her jailed killer controlling estate

A murderer who killed his own mother is demanding to keep the same £8,500 ring he stole from her dead body – and then attempted to pawn.

Ross Taggart strangled Carol Taggart and buried her body under a caravan following an argument at her house in Dunfermline in December 2014.

He stole the 54-year-old’s credit card and went on a spending spree before going to a pawnbroker to sell her favourite diamond ring.

The law allows Ross, 33, to control his dead mother’s £500,000 estate from his prison cell, where he is serving 18 years for murder.

Taggart’s family have revealed Ross is demanding two of his mother’s rings – including a diamond of more than one carat he stole from her dead body.

Taggart’s stepfather, Shaun, 55, said: “Ross is demanding the contents of his room, stuff he allegedly bought for his daughter, and the rings.

“He said the rings were gifted to him but there’s absolutely nothing in the will saying this. One of the rings we’re talking about here is the ring he took of her dead body and tried to pawn. It’s a 1.1 carat diamond set gold ring. He’s trying to line his pockets.

“Carol bought that particular ring for around £8,500 years ago. She went and bought it straight after her mother died.

“She was left money so bought that and would wear it all the time. She never had it off.

“The ring was used in court in evidence and was put in an evidence bag and returned. I’m not sure where it is now.”

Taggart is also demanding another ring which is believed to be the engagement ring his biological father gave to Carol. Taggart murdered his mother days before Christmas 2014 at her home, following an argument.

He used so much force he broke a bone in his mother’s neck and later hid her body underneath a caravan at Pettycur Bay Holiday Park in Burntisland, Fife – where his mother owned a caravan.

In November 2015, at the High Court sitting in Edinburgh, a jury took minutes to find Taggart guilty. Lord Uist ordered him to serve a minimum of 18 years.

Despite this, Taggart remains executor of Carol’s will and has refused to hand over her assets to his sister, Lorraine Bristow, and her brother Daniel.

Taggart has denied his family access to Carol’s property to collect sentimental items such as photographs and videos.

Earlier this month it emerged the caravan park had been charging site fees to Carol’s estate from the date of her death up until November last year.

Taggart, who remains executor of his tragic mother’s will, finally agreed in April this year to settle the £15,000 bill in exchange for Carol’s caravan which has lay empty since her death.

Carol’s family have repeatedly condemned the fact that a convicted murderer is allowed to manage, from behind bars, the estate of the person he killed.

Earlier this year Lorraine’s husband, Stephen Bristow, launched a petition urging the Scottish Government to change the law that allows murderers the right to remain executor of the will of those they have killed.

So far the petition on change.org has attracted more than 11,000 signatures.

Ross Taggart, right, was sentenced to a minimum of 18 years in jail for the murder of his mother Carol,left