THE murder trial of two carers found guilty of killing Margaret Fleming who vanished two decades ago will be shown in a new two-part documentary, the BBC has now confirmed. 

Glasgow Times:

Avril Jones, 58 and Edward Cairney, 77 were found guilty of murdering the 19-year-old woman at their home in Inverkip and jailed for life. Now their court case will be the subject of Inside the Murder Trial: The Disappearance of Margaret Fleming.

We previously revealed that Glasgow-based Firecrest Films were given permission by the head of Scotland’s judiciary Lord Carloway, and the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service to film the proceedings of the case against pair, which lasted seven weeks.

The new documentary will premiere on the BBC Scotland channel followed by BBC Two, with the network to announce the premiere dates. 

Filmed by Firecrest Films, the team behind the acclaimed BBC Scotland series Murder Case, this new series was filmed in and beyond the Glasgow High Court.

READ MORE: Margaret Fleming 'carers' jailed for life

Glasgow Times:

The documentary makers synopsis for the series states: "In 2016 an application for a Personal Independence Payment raised suspicions. When authorities couldn’t contact the applicant, the police were called and it was discovered a 35-year-old woman had seemingly vanished from a village on the west coast of Scotland. 

"Margaret Fleming was a vulnerable adult understood by authorities to be in the full-time care of Edward Cairney and Avril Jones, living in a remote coastal property in the village of Inverkip. But when police asked neighbours about Margaret, they were told she hadn’t been seen for nearly 20 years. 

"Just before Christmas in 1999 the then 19-year-old Margaret had seemingly disappeared. Yet not one person had reported her missing. 

"In the murder trial that unfolds across this series, Cairney and Jones stand accused of killing her, disposing of her body and claiming benefits in her name for 16 years.

"With remarkable in-court access to an unfolding trial that gripped Scotland, this is the story of prosecution without a body, a community without answers and a young woman without the means to look after herself - lost by a social care system, lost by friends and family and lost to time." 

READ MORE: BBC given permission to film Margaret Fleming murder trial

Glasgow Times:

Glasgow Times:

The documentary makers promise that the case will take viewers deep into the inner workings of Scotland’s justice system, its social care system and of a rural community coming to terms with the prospect of a brutal and calculated crime occurring unnoticed in its midst. 

Patrick Holland, Controller of BBC Two, said: “This is a ground-breaking documentary for BBC Two that takes the audience into the very centre of a trial that gripped a nation. With access to the court, this series will follow the tragic case of Margaret Fleming and the efforts of police and prosecutors to bring her killers to justice.”

Clare Sillery, Head of Commissioning, Documentaries, added: “This is a landmark trial to which the BBC has had remarkable access and I am delighted that in doing so we are able to spotlight the fantastic production talent of Firecrest Films in Scotland.”

David Harron, Commissioning Executive, BBC Scotland continued: “This series will provide a compelling insight into the work of the police, and prosecutors in bringing these two suspects in this high profile case to trial.  And it will also show the work of the defence teams representing the two accused.

"We have been delighted with the audience response to our Murder Case series, which was made by the same team, and this promises to give audiences yet another fascinating look at the work which goes on behind the scenes of Scotland’s justice system.”

Glasgow Times:

The production is believed to be the first created in a Scottish court since the television documentary The Murder Trial which was shown on Channel 4 in 2013. That documentary featured the trial of Nat Fraser who was convicted of murdering his wife Arlene in Elgin, Moray in 1998. The documentary, which won a 2014 British Academy Television Award, was only the second time that footage from a British murder trial was broadcast on television.