Woman on fraud charge in riddle of hotel’s double knife death horror
A WoMAN yesterday appeared in court charged with three of f e nces i ncl uding fraud following the apparent suicides of a mother and daughter a year ago.
Linsey Cotton was led into the dock at Paisley Sheriff Court in Renfrewshire in handcuffs.
She appeared in private before Sheriff Colin McClory charged with fraud, culpable and reckless conduct and attempting t o defeat t he ends of justice.
The 31-year- old – who walks with a crutch – was arrested by officers investigating the deaths of mother and daughter Margaret and Nicola McDonough.
She made no plea or declaration to the charges against her and was released on bail with special conditions.
During the short hearing, at which she was represented by defence solicitor Gerry Bann, Cotton was told she would have to attend an identification parade and be assessed by a psychiatrist.
The case against Cotton, of Addiewell, West Lothian, was continued for further investigation and a new court date has yet to be set.
Mrs McDonough, 52, a former Lib Dem council candidate, and her daughter Nicola, 23, a social work graduate, were found with slash wounds at a Premier Inn in Greenock, Renfrewshire, on May 10 last year. Mrs McDonough was found dying with horrific injuries in the budget hotel room while her daughter was discovered lying unconscious i n the corridor outside with a deep slash wound. She l ost her fight for l i fe in hospital three days later.
Miss McDonough had a history of self-harm while her mother was said to have been depressed over the break-up of her marriage to her children’s father, Thomas. Mrs McDonough died f rom ‘incised wounds’ to her left arm, while her daughter died from a single wound to her left arm.
Report s that they had bought packets of paracetamol
‘She’d just adopted
a wee boy’
before committing s uicide remain unconfirmed.
The two women, of Paisley, Renfrewshire, were laid to rest at the town’s St Mirin’s Cathedral in the same month.
After the tragedy, it emerged that Mrs McDonough had made a will only the day before.
She left £250,000 to her sons Kevin, 33, Michael, 32, and 21-year-old Matthew. Her estate was made up of the family home, her Vauxhall Astra car and £239 held across three bank accounts.
No mention of Miss McDonough was made in the legal document, f uelling the belief that the women had made a pact to kill themselves.
They arrived at the Premier Inn, which is 17 miles from their home, at 3.50pm on May 9.
When Mrs McDonough later failed to collect her foster son from nursery in their home town, worried family members raised the alarm.
It was discovered that having left the hotel for a number of hours on the day they arrived, t he women r eturned t here between 12.30am and 1am the next day. They were found dying later that morning around 7am.
Last June, Mrs McDonough’s brother William Shanks said the deaths were a mystery.
He said then: ‘Margaret had just adopted a wee boy and just bought a jacket for him starting school. I can’t really understand it.’