LAUGHING KILLER SET EX-PARTNER ON FIRE
A KILLER who stood laughing as he set his former partner on fire has been sent to a high security psychiatric hospital.
Kevin Marks, 48, stood over businesswoman Ann Drummond as she rolled around the ground in a bid to put out the fire which he had started on June 25 last year in her car at a road near Bathgate, West Lothian.
The High Court in Edinburgh heard how paramedics rushed to the scene and took her to hospital. Medics later found that more than 80 per cent of Ann’s body was injured by burns.
She died at Glasgow’s Royal Infirmary Hospital after doctors concluded her injuries were so severe that she couldn’t survive.
Police later arrested Marks, of Bathgate, and charged him with murder. In the hours before the attack, Ann was so concerned by her ex-partner’s poor mental health she met him as he was released on bail in connection with other charges.
Marks was twice assessed by community forensic nurses amid concerns about his mental wellbeing.
However, they concluded that he was fit to be released and he later appeared at Livingston Sheriff Court and was granted bail. But
Marks, now a patient of the State Hospital at Carstairs, then attacked his former partner in her vehicle.
Ann told paramedics that Marks had poured petrol on her and set her alight. She said he had laughed as she tried to extinguish the flames.
Judge Simon Collins adjourned proceedings to another hearing at the High Court in Edinburgh on October 28. Marks continues to be detained at Carstairs.