Ross Taggart was jailed for life nearly a decade ago for the murder of his mother, whose body he then hid under a caravan on the Fife coast.
As a new Netflix documentary exploring the shocking case is due to air later this year, The Courier examines how the callous then-30-year-old – mum Carol-Anne’s “blue-eyed boy” – was caught after the Christmas killing.
Taggart throttled and bludgeoned the 54-year-old Dunfermline childminder to death after an argument at their home on December 21 or 22 2014.
He wrapped her body in bedding and green twine and stuffed it under the floor of a vacant caravan beside his mother’s at Pettycur Bay, before being forced to report her missing.
His lies about Carol-Anne storming out and failing to return quickly unravelled and he was arrested within three weeks.
His trial at the High Court in Edinburgh lasted seven days in November 2015 and he was convicted of murder and imprisoned for a minimum of 18 years.
Trial judge Lord Uist said: “You embarked on a calculated course of deceit by reporting her as missing to the police and persistently lying about your actions.
“You have shown no regret or remorse and continued to deny your involvement before the jury in the face of overwhelming and unanswerable evidence.”
This is the clear trail of clues police used to prove his guilt.
1 – Stormy relationship between Carol-Anne and Ross Taggart
Despite Taggart being described his mother’s favourite, it emerged they had a tempestuous relationship.
On the first day of the trial, stepfather Shaun Taggart said: “Ross was the golden boy from the get-go.”
However, he told the court: “She put Ross out for a wee while when he was 17,” confirming they had not had the easiest of relationships.
Mrs Taggart’s estranged daughter, Lorraine Bristow, 27, described her half-brother as the “blue-eyed boy”.
She described Carol-Anne as a “very stubborn lady”, with whom the children had sometimes difficult dealings.
Mrs Bristow told the court she overheard a phone call between her husband and Taggart on December 23 in which he reported his mother was missing after she had “stormed out of the house” following one of their typical disagreements.
Taggart admitted on the witness stand he argued with his mother at their home in Hill of St Margaret, Dunfermline on the night she died but denied he “snapped” and killed her.
He said: “I’ve never snapped in my life…Everybody who knows me knows I don’t have much of a temper.”
However, Taggart did tell the court he and his mother had “weekly arguments”, lasting a couple of days.
He said on December 21, they had argued about his relationship with his then-partner Allanah Mackie, as well as about his sister and father.
Ms Mackie revealed a series of early morning December 22 texts in which Taggart said his mother had left their home amid their row.
After stating he had told her to go to the caravan, a later one read: “Aw, soz, just got fed up at her moaning about life, twice she has told me she wants to die, I was just like get a grip, totally p***ed off.”
However, when accused of murder, he replied: “That’s not true. You ask anyone how much I care about my mum.
“I’d be the last person to lift my hands to my mum.”
2 – The ever-present phone
Carol-Anne’s phone itself played a key role in her son’s conviction, when a friend said it was strange Taggart had it.
A string of family and friends told the trial it was out of character and “impossible” she walked out of her own house in the middle of the night and left the mobile phone normally “glued to her ear”.
Karen Fotheringham was a friend of Carol-Anne and a childcare assistant at the nursery she ran at her home in Dunfermline, looking after youngsters including the daughter of local MP Cara Hilton.
She told the trial she arrived at work on December 22 and her friend’s car was not there.
She texted her a number of times with no reply. The voicemail box was full.
Taggart came into the living-room with his mother’s phone, which Ms Fotheringham said was odd.
“Carol always had her phone in her hand.
“Ross said ‘there’s no point texting my mum because I have it and she is not here’.”
He told her they had rowed and she left for the caravan at 1am.
After visiting the caravan at Pettycur Bay the following day and finding it empty, Mrs Fotheringham returned to the nursery, called the police and passed the phone to Taggart, who reported his “depressed” mother was missing.
He said she had gone to the caravan at Kinghorn, taking her bag but, unusually, leaving her phone.
3 – The cleaned Pettycur Bay caravan
As the police operation swung into action, Taggart was told not to again enter Caravan 2, Wallace Heights, belonging to his mother.
However, when police arrived to search it, it was clear he had ignored them.
PC Neil Gribbons told the trial the inside of the caravan was “immaculate” adding: “It looked like a show home place.”
However, Taggart’s cleaning had not been thorough enough.
“Low-level drag marks” and blood were found by officers in the hallway area.
Blood was found on slats on his mother’s bed and on a bedroom door.
Sheeting and green twine matching that in which her body was later found was discovered in his bedroom.
This led forensics teams to examine a nearby vacant property – Caravan 4 – under which Carol-Anne’s body was found.
4 – The cars
Taggart told police Carol-Anne drove off after their argument and he never saw her – or the car – again.
Her car was found in Dunfermline’s Bruce Street on Christmas Day.
Witness Mrs Fotheringham confronted Taggart about it and he revealed he was going drinking with friends instead of speaking to police about it.
The last address entered into its satellite navigation system was the woman’s and the driver’s seat was pushed back to accommodate a tall person.
It emerged during the trial Taggart had been on Bruce Street to visit a woman he met on a dating site, hours after he said his mother left home.
Taggart had moved in with his friend Darren Taylor as Carol-Anne’s house was being searched by police officers.
Mr Taylor said Taggart told him he and his mother had two new cars – both financed – and Carol-Anne’s vehicle could be handed back to cover the rent.
Advocate depute Iain McSporran asked: “So, before his mother’s body was found, when there was still hope she could come through the door, he tells you he could hand back his mother’s car to pay off the finance? Or if his mum was not going to be in a position to be worried about losing her car?”
Mr Taylor replied: “If you want to put it like that.”
5 – Post-death spending spree
It emerged mother and son had often discussed money worries.
It was claimed their pre-Christmas argument had started because £200 rent he gave her on December 21 had been withdrawn from her account.
The trial was read text messages in which she called him a “sponger”.
Taggart told police his mother had spoken about selling the caravan because they could not afford it anymore.
He enjoyed a solo night out in Edinburgh with Carol-Anne’s cash hours after he disposed of her body and was charged with stealing £700 by using her bank card at machines in Fife and Edinburgh.
Desperate for money, on December 30, he then tried to sell a high-value ring witnesses said his mother wore “all the time” to a pawnbroker, claiming it was left to him.
In Duncanson and Edwards in Frederick Street, Taggart was paid £100 for a 9ct bangle but staff refused to buy the ring as he did not have the proof of ownership needed for such a high-value item.
He was cleared of stealing the items during the trial.
He looked for holidays in the Dominican Republic on January 12, the day before he was arrested.
Taggart’s thirst for cash did not end with his imprisonment.
It emerged in December 2015 he still intended to be executor of Carol-Anne’s will in a bid to claim the home he and his mother shared and the caravan.
Shaun Taggart said: “He’s trying to profit from her death. It’s sickening.”
Carol-Anne left her son the house, its furniture and her child-minding business, believed to be worth close to £500,000.
Lorraine was forbidden from collecting items of sentimental value from the house until January 2019, when Taggart gave her a week to do so before the contents were sold.
In August 2020, the detached four-bed home was sold for £297,200.
Lorraine, who runs a dance school, added: “Ross won’t give up control.”
Ten-part series When Missing Turns To Murder by Phoenix Television is due to air on Netflix in June
For the latest court cases across Tayside and Fife, join our Courts Facebook page.
