A Stirling killer who stabbed a care worker to death is to be kept in a hospital in Wales for treatment.
Kellyanne McNaughton killed Michele Rutherford on March 7 2023 after failed attempts to get the 33 year-old psychiatric help.
McNaughton admitted in January the culpable homicide of the much-loved mum in the attack at the supported accommodation in Craighall Court in Stirling, run by The Richmond Fellowship charity.
She had originally faced a murder accusation but prosecutors accepted her guilty plea to the reduced charge on the grounds of diminished responsibility.
Incarceration dilemma
There have been issues since that hearing about where McNaughton will be kept long-term.
She appeared from custody in January having been remanded in HMP Stirling but the plan was for McNaughton to receive treatment for her conditions.
However, the only Scots ‘high risk” facility is the State Hospital at Carstairs, which caters for men.
There had been failed discussions about transferring her to two clinics in Scotland, as well as Rampton Secure Hospital in England.
There was talk of her initially been put in a “low secure unit”, which prosecutors said her victim’s family had “expressed concerns” about.
McNaughton was again brought from HMP Stirling for the latest hearing at the High Court in Glasgow on Monday.
It was confirmed she will be moved within seven days to the Priory Hospital Llanarth Court in Monmouthshire in Wales for treatment.
This was described as “medium” secure facility.
Lord Armstrong went on to make McNaughton the subject of both compulsion and restriction orders for her to remain at Llanarth Court without limit of time.
Tragedy
The court earlier heard how Mrs Rutherford was a senior support worker at the unit at a time McNaughton’s behaviour became increasingly bizarre and she started “hearing” children screaming.
Medical and police help was sought and on March 7, as a colleague tried to arrange an assessment for the increasingly erratic woman, she stabbed Mrs Rutherford in the chest several times.
She struck two other carers with the knife before she could be disarmed.
She confessed to police: “Yeah, I stabbed the three of them. They are carers where I live. I stabbed them in the chest and arms.
“I am sorry. I was demonic. I had the wee knife in my pocket.”
Michele, of Stirling, passed away having been stabbed twice in the heart.
She is survived by her husband, two daughters and her brother.
Ongoing risk to public
Dr Nicola Swinson – consultant forensic psychiatrist at NHS Forth Valley – gave evidence at the hearing on Monday.
She said McNaughton had low IQ and been diagnosed with emotionally unstable personality disorder.
She had spoke of having “trances” which made her “unaware of what was happening” and “only becoming aware at the end of it”.
Dr Swinson described McNaughton as now being “more stable”.
However, she told the hearing: “There would be a risk to the public and to herself if at liberty.”
The witness stated if the risk “reduced” McNaughton may eventually be moved to a “low security” unit in Scotland but that is likely to be “several years away”.
Sympathy for family
Lord Armstrong said he had read a number of moving statements from relatives of Mrs Rutherford, some of whom were in court.
He said the lasting effect of her death may be “incalculable”, adding: “I have no doubt that her relatives have been deeply affected by this.
“I suspect that no disposal will be regarded as sufficient in their eyes.”
Regarding any concerns the family may have had about where McNaughton is kept, the judge said he was “satisfied all appropriate measures” had been put in place.
As she was led away, one person yelled at McNaughton: “Rot in hell.”
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