Tracy Meikle

Case record: Tracy Meikle

Outcome

Tracy Meikle was sentenced to life in prison (minimum 15 years) on January 29, 2014 for murder.

The offence

Tracy Meikle stabbed Lorraine Foy five times on the neck and body in front of Lorraine Foy’s two teenage daughters on 22 June 2013.

Lorraine Foy went to confront Meikle at Meikle’s flat in Glasgow after being told Meikle had head-butted a 14-year-old girl.

Meikle claimed she acted in self defence, but she was convicted of murder.

One blow severed a main artery and another cut the jugular vein.

Investigation

At trial, Meikle admitted she stabbed Ms Foy to death but denied murdering her and claimed she was acting in self-defence. She said she took the knife with her because she feared she was going to be slashed. She told defence QC Gordon Jackson that she could not remember what happened after that.

Trial

High Court proceedings

Meikle’s trial at the High Court in Glasgow heard that Lorraine Foy went in a taxi to confront Meikle over the head-butting allegation.

Lorraine Foy demanded that Meikle came down from her flat in Crowlin Crescent, Cranhill, and explain why she had head-butted a girl.

Meikle grabbed a black-handled knife before walking down the stairs.

As Meikle came down the stairs, Lorraine Foy and Meikle began to scuffle.

Lorraine Foy’s daughter, Amy Foy, 13, said:

"I shouted to my mum 'she's got a knife up her sleeve' but mum never heard me and they started fighting. "Mum and her were fighting and she was trying to get it out and couldn't. Then she did and stabbed my mum in the neck."

The court heard that Lorraine Foy was unarmed, and the only thing she had in her hands was a pack of cigarettes.

Lorraine Foy’s friend, Michelle Cochrane, 41, told the court:

"She was like a wild animal stabbing into Lorraine's neck. She was just blank. It was a frenzied knife attack."

Michelle Cochrane said she tried to pull Meikle away by getting behind her and punching her a couple of times on the head, and added:

"She was still stabbing Lorraine. I couldn't get her off. It was like somebody with double strength."

Michelle Cochrane said the attack lasted just over 30 seconds before Meikle went back up to her home. She said Lorraine Foy was lying in the middle of the road with blood coming from her neck, and that she put her hand round Lorraine Foy’s neck.

Michelle Cochrane told the court:

"Blood was seeping my hand. I was saying to Lorraine: 'Stay awake, stay awake'. " "She looked at me with her left eye and there was a tear in it, she blinked twice and then it was as if her eyes changed colour. I knew then that I had lost her."

During the sentencing phase, Meikle’s defence QC, Gordon Jackson, pleaded for leniency and said Meikle had taken valium washed down with Buckfast and cider and could remember little of the attack.

Gordon Jackson said:

"She never really denied that she was the person involved in this but doesn't know how it happened or why it happened. It was just something out of nothing,"

Gordon Jackson added that Meikle had a history of being abused, broken relationships and drink and drugs, and that since she had sobered up in Cornton Vale she had become a pleasant and sensible young woman.

Gordon Jackson said:

"Cruel murder"

Sentencing

Meikle’s sentence was deferred at the High Court in Glasgow until next month at the High Court in Edinburgh.

At sentencing on January 29, 2014 at the High Court in Edinburgh, judge Lord Jones jailed Meikle for life.

Judge Lord Jones said he had read accounts from Lorraine Foy’s daughters and other relatives on the impact of Lorraine Foy’s death. He said:

"It is clear that the whole family has been devastated by the utterly pointless and cruel murder,"

Judge Lord Jones noted that background reports also said Meikle very much regretted what she had done, and added:

"None of that, however, can undo the damage you caused."

A minimum term of 15 years was set before parole eligibility.

As Meikle was led away from the dock, a woman shouted at her:

"I hope you rot in hell."