Man and woman tried to kill two children and each other

A man and a woman have been jailed for attempting to murder two children and each other near Falkirk.

Christopher McTaggart, 42, was sentenced to 11 years after he was convicted of three charges of attempted murder and one of culpable and reckless conduct.

His co-accused Stacey Archibald, 33, was given an eight-year jail term.

She was also found guilty of three attempted murder charges and culpable and reckless conduct.

McTaggart and Archibald, from Mauchline in Ayrshire, were also ordered to serve further five-year periods of supervision in the community.

During this time, they can be returned to prison if they breach licence conditions.

In April 2022, the pair cut a live gas pipe at Archibald's home in Stenhousemuir and attached a hose to it before feeding the supply into the living room.

Gas flowed into the house and they attempted to prevent it from escaping by sealing windows, vents and a door.

This exposed two boys, who were sleeping overnight in the living room, to inhalation.

But the children later left the property to go to a relative's home.

The court heard how their conduct also caused a risk of explosion and fire, endangered the lives of other occupants of the building and posed a danger to the public.

The pair remained at the flat and inflicted serious, disfiguring knife wounds on each other's arms in a bid to murder each other.

They had denied a series of charges during a trial at the High Court in Edinburgh but were found guilty of the attempted murders and reckless conduct.

The trial judge, Lord Weir, described their offences as "serious and concerning".

The court heard that after emergency services were alerted police found notes in the house, including a document headed up as "the last will and testament" of the pair.

The first police officer to arrive at the scene, PC Andrew Inglis said: "As soon as I stepped out of the police car I could smell a strong smell of gas."

The court heard how a woman with a blood soaked towel around her arm told him she and her partner slashed each other's wrists.

PC Inglis told the court: "She said she had damaged the gas as well.

"She said he was in the property and bleeding out."

The officer said the smell of gas was stronger inside the building and he saw the cooker was in the middle of the kitchen floor.

He said he found a man in a bedroom lying on a heavily blood soaked bed and managed to get him out with the aid of a colleague.

PC Iain O'Donnell said McTaggart told him Archibald was suffering with her mental health and they cut each other.

He said: "I believe it was 'she done me. I done her.'"

McTaggart told him that he held the gas pipe and Archibald cut it, but claimed that he had capped it again.

Lord Weir told them that, given the nature of the offences they committed, a significant custodial sentence was "inevitable".

The judge said he took into account that two of the victims were children and the pair posed a wider danger to the community by their actions.

The court heard that Archibald was a first offender but McTaggart has a criminal record, including for theft, drug possession and breaching court orders.

Defence counsel Colin Neilson, for McTaggart, said he suffered from PTSD and was assessed as a medium risk of further offending.

David Moggach, counsel for Archibald, said she had a mental health disorder and suffered from a personality disorder.

He said she has since made progress but asked the judge to take account of her poor mental health at the time of the offences.