Stephanie McLaggan – Gainsborough

A woman has been handed a life sentence with a minimum tariff of 18 years for the murder of 44-year-old Gillian Connelly at a house in Gainsborough.

Stephanie McLaggan, 39, refused to admit responsibility for fatally stabbing Gillian – but a jury at Lincoln Crown Court returned the guilty verdict yesterday (8 October) following a trial.

The court had heard how McLaggan and Gillian had got into a heated argument in the early hours of the morning on 28 July last year while they were at a friend’s house in Wheeldon Street.

McLaggan, who had previously been in a relationship with Gillian for more than 20 years, took a knife from the kitchen and stabbed her – causing a fatal wound to the chest.

That stab wound pierced her artery just below her heart. She died a short time after being taken to hospital.

Home Office pathologist Stuart Hamilton has been consulted and described the injury as “devastating, with no chance of survival in this setting”.

Lead investigator, Detective Chief Inspector Andy McWatt, said: “Our Force Control Room had received a 999 call at 4.20am on 28 July last year saying that a woman was injured in the street outside Wheeldon Street, Gainsborough.

“Officers were dispatched and started taking initial accounts – at this stage we didn’t know what had happened.

“Through gathering evidence, specifically CCTV footage, we quickly determined that Gillian had not been stabbed on the street but had been inside a nearby house.

“As our officers pieced together what had happened, it became clear that we weren’t just dealing with a murder, we were also dealing with other people who were covering up the truth of what happened”.

As the team continued the investigation, it was established that the main scene was a house lived in by 28-year-old Jade Glover.

We then ascertained that following the stabbing Glover had contacted Steven Lowther – who lived on the same road – to help move Gillian out of the house and onto the street in an attempt to conceal the scene

“There were a lot of moving pieces and hundreds of hours of CCTV to work through,” said DCI McWatt, of the East Midlands Specialist Operations Unit.

“We found the key parts relatively swiftly, and it soon became clear that Glover and Lowther had lied about what happened, and that in fact Gillian had been stabbed inside Glover’s house. Glover then enlisted Lowther to move Gillian into the street.

“Gillian was then moved outside so they could claim she’d never been in the house, effectively concealing the crime scene and destroying potentially vital forensic evidence.

“The false accounts provided made this complicated case to unpick and understand what had happened, but we were determined to find justice for Gillian and her family.”

As part of our investigation, multiple kitchen knives were taken from the property and sent for analysis to the forensic laboratory. One of these was found to have Gillian’s and McLaggan’s DNA on it.

McLaggan was arrested less than 24 hours after the stabbing.

DCI McWatt added: “I’d like to pay tribute to the main witness in this case who demonstrated immense bravery in providing her account. The witness will be afforded the full protection of the law, to support her bravery.

“My team has dedicated countless hours to gathering the evidence needed to prosecute, and today, justice has been served.”

McLaggan received the sentence today (9 October) at Lincoln Crown Court.

Lowther, 45, and Glover, both of Wheeldon Street, Gainsborough, had previously pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice and will both be sentenced at a later date.