Edith McAlinden (born 1968) is a Scottish murderer who, along with her 17-year-old son John McAlinden and his 16-year-old friend Jamie Gray, was involved in a triple murder at a flat, dubbed "The House Of Blood", in Crosshill,

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated pop ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...

on 17 October 2004.

Murders

On 16 October 2004, McAlinden, a convicted

thief Theft is the act of taking another person's property or services without that person's permission or consent with the intent to deprive the rightful owner of it. The word ''theft'' is also used as a synonym or informal shorthand term for some ...

, prostitute, and homeless drifter, was released from prison, having served a nine-month sentence for a serious assault. She visited a top-floor flat on Dixon Avenue, in Crosshill, where her boyfriend David Gillespie, 42, lived with fellow tenant Anthony Coyle, 71, and landlord Ian Mitchell, 67, whom McAlinden referred as "Pops". An argument erupted between McAlinden and Gillespie during a drinking session, which spurred her into stabbing a knife in Gillespie's thighs repeatedly, severing a

femoral vein In the human body, the femoral vein is a blood vessel that accompanies the femoral artery in the femoral sheath. It begins at the adductor hiatus (an opening in the adductor magnus muscle) as the continuation of the popliteal vein. It ends ...

in one thigh that caused him to bleed to death. McAlinden panicked and telephoned her son John for help. John arrived with his friend Jamie Gray by taxi. McAlinden persuaded Mitchell to pay for their taxi fare. He agreed, mistakenly believing that her son and his friend had come to help Gillespie. When John realised Mitchell was a witness, he fatally stabbed him and kicked his head repeatedly, which caused his brain to bleed heavily. Coyle escaped to his bedroom where he locked himself in. John and Jamie used a drill to remove the door locks and forced their way into the bedroom. Jamie chased Coyle and beat him to death with a golf club. Two hours later, at approximately 3:00, McAlinden went to neighbour James Sweeney's house and claimed something had happened at Ian Mitchell's flat. She begged him to check. Sweeney went to the flat and once he saw the state of the hallway, he phoned the emergency services on his mobile phone. He later revealed to local reporters that walls and floors were covered with blood, which quickly earned the killings a nickname, "The House of Blood."

Investigation

When the police and paramedics arrived, they found McAlinden alone and clinging to Gillespie's body, screaming at him to wake up. McAlinden was formally charged next day, Monday 18 October, at

Glasgow Sheriff Court Glasgow Sheriff Court is a sheriff court in the Gorbals ( Laurieston) area of Glasgow, within the sheriffdom of Glasgow and Strathkelvin. It is reputedly the busiest court in Europe. History The new court was commissioned to replace the Old Sh ...

for the murders. During the investigation, the police speculated McAlinden didn't act alone and that there were two or three strong men involved because, according to a police record during the trial, "there was so much blood in the flat that it was impossible to be precise about the details of the violence."

Trial and sentence

In May 2005, Edith McAlinden, John McAlinden and Jamie Gray appeared at Glasgow High Court. All denied murdering Mitchell, Coyle, and Gillespie. During the trial, prosecutor Sean Murphy QC claimed that the victims had been "beaten with knives, metal files, a belt, and pieces of wood" and "hit with a bottle, punched, stabbed and stamped on the head, and had boiling water poured over them". The defendants changed their pleas during the trial: John McAlinden admitted he killed Mitchell, Jamie Gray admitted killing Coyle, and Edith McAlinden admitted killing Gillespie. On 29 June 2005, Edith McAlinden was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum tariff of 13 years. John McAlinden and Jamie Gray were each given a minimum tariff of 12 years. It is known that John McAlinden was liberated in 2016, but was imprisoned again in 2018 for breaching the conditions of his licence House of Blood killer back in jail after abusing his new partner
Mark McGivern, Daily Record, 27 November 2018

Media

The McAlindens' case has been profiled on ''

Deadly Women ''Deadly Women'' is an American true crime documentary television series produced by Beyond International Group and airing on the Investigation Discovery (ID) network. The series focuses on murders committed by women. It is hosted by former ...

'' during the third segment of the episode "Mommy's Little Helpers."

References

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