The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Murder victim’s home infested
Grieving daughter’s sadness at state of house
A Fife murder victim’s daughter has suffered a new blow after discovering her mother’s home has degenerated into a rodent-infested mess.
Lorraine Bristow was allowed access to her mother’s house in Dunfermline for the first time since her death, after a four-year legal battle with her murderer brother.
She found it had not been touched since police finished a probe into Carol Anne Taggart’s death.
It has been infested with mice, which have eaten through police evidence bags.
Mouldy food – including Christmas gifts which the 54-year-old had ready to wrap – is still where it lay in 2014, when Ross Taggart strangled their mother before hiding her body under a caravan at Pettycur Bay.
As executor of his mother’s will, Taggart – serving a life sentence at Perth Prison – has denied Lorraine access to the house until her onehour supervised visit this week.
She said: “My mum’s pristine house is no longer her house. All I can see is mice in my head when I go to bed. They’re running riot in my mum’s house and it’s horrible.”
A heartbroken daughter was confronted with a house of horrors after a near fouryear fight to gain access to her murdered mother’s home.
Lorraine Bristow found Carol Anne Taggart’s previously pristine house infested with mice and bugs, with evidence of a police crime scene still visible when she finally gained access this week.
Mrs Taggart, 54, was strangled to death in December 2014 by her son Ross Taggart, who hid her body under a caravan at Pettycur Bay.
He is serving a minimum 18-year sentence after being convicted of murder but remains executor of his mother’s will.
It means he has been able to prevent other family members from gaining access to Mrs Taggart’s Dunfermline house.
Lorraine, who is campaigning for a change in inheritance laws, said Taggart finally allowed her to spend just one hour in the house on Monday, on condition she was accompanied by his lawyer and only entered her mother’s bedroom.
“My mum’s pristine house is no longer her house, it’s a house for mice with most of her items chewed and mice poo everywhere,” she said.
“All I wanted to do was sit on her bed and meditate on what’s happened.
“I’ve always had to fight and have never had a moment to sit down and think about her but I couldn’t even sit on her bed.”
The 30-year-old dance teacher said mice had chewed on the bed and burrowed into the mattress, nibbled on now-mouldy chocolates and other Christmas presents laid out to be wrapped by her mother and built nests in her cupboards.
Lorraine has been campaigning to close a legal loophole which allows a killer to remain an executor of his victim’s estate and is due to meet the Scottish Government later this month.
An online petition has already gained more than 13,000 signatures.
A Scottish Government spokesman said they were committed to reforming the law of succession to ensure a “clear and fair legal framework” for the law of inheritance.
“As part of this work we will consider whether there is a need to amend the law to address the issue of convicted murderers acting as executors for their victims.”
Ross Taggart’s lawyers said they were unable to comment on the case.
I’ve always had to fight and have never had a moment to sit down and think about her but I couldn’t even sit on her bed. LORRAINE BRISTOW