With the help of their 16-year-old buddy Jamie Gray, Edith McAlinden, her 17-year-old boy John McAlinden, and their 16-year-old buddy Jamie Gray, committed a triple homicide at a Crosshill, Glasgow, Scotland apartment known as “The House of Blood.” With the help of their 16-year-old buddy Jamie Gray, this murder is as gruesome as Peter Sutcliffe.
Murders
Edith McAlinden, a robber, prostitute, and homeless wanderer, was freed from jail on Sunday, October 16, 2004, after serving a nine-month term for a major attack. When she went to see David Gillespie, her lover of 42 years, she met Anthony Coyle, his roommate of 71 years, and the landlord of the house, Ian Mitchell, 67 years old, whom she affectionately referred to as “Pops”. While McAlinden and Gillespie were drinking, an altercation broke out, leading her to repeatedly stab Gillespie in the legs until he died from a severed femoral vein.
In her fear, McAlinden called her kid, John, for aid. Jamie Gray, a friend of John’s, had taken a cab there with him. Mitchell agreed to pay the cab fare after McAlinden convinced him to do so. He accepted, assuming that her kid and a colleague had come to assist Gillespie because of his incorrect belief.
John viciously slashed and repeatedly kicked Mitchell in the head after realizing he was a witness. Coyle made his way to his bedroom and shut himself in.
To get inside the bedroom, John & Jamie had to use a drill to dislodge the door locks. Jamie pursued Coyle and killed him with the golf club during a scuffle. When McAlinden returned to his neighbor James Sweeney’s residence 2 hours later, at about 3 AM, he stated that something had occurred at Ian Mitchell’s apartment complex. She asked him to look into it.
Upon arriving in the apartment, Sweeney dialed 999 on his cell phone after he found the hallway in such a mess. It immediately became known as “The House of Blood” as he disclosed to reporters that the walls & floors were covered with blood.
Investigation
McAlinden was discovered alone and yelling at Gillespie to wake up whenever the police and doctors came. On Monday, October 18, McAlinden was officially charged with the murders at Glasgow Sheriff Court.
Investigators hypothesized that McAlinden wasn’t acting alone and that two or three strong guys were involved because “there was so much blood in the apartment that it was hard to be accurate about the nature of the violence,” a police record during the trial said.
Two weeks later, Bryan Gallagher, a tenant of the homeless unit, went to the police station to report that John McAlinden, a neighbor, had bragged about the killings the night before. There were arrests and legal charges brought against both John and Jamie Gray.
Did You Know?
Female Murderers back then were considered Lilith’s Children?
An appeals process and a punishment
Jamie Gray and Edith McAlinden were in court in Glasgow High Court in May 2005. All three men’s murderers denied any involvement in the slayings. the victims were “beaten with knives, metal files, belt, and pieces of wood,” and “struck with a bottle; punched; stabbed; stamped on the skull,” according to prosecutor Sean Murphy QC during the trial. Find more murders mysteries and trials here.
During the course of the trial, the defendants modified their statements. Edith McAlinden acknowledged murdering Gillespie, while Jamie Gray admitted to killing Coyle. According to her sentencing agreement, she must spend her time in jail until at least 2018, which was announced on June 29, 2005. A 12-year minimum punishment was imposed on John McAlinden & Jamie Gray.
