Wife's Role in Husband's Murder Cover-Up Detailed in Documentary

A woman's attempts to cover up her husband’s murder have been revealed in a new TV documentary.

Samantha MacGillivray, 34, assisted in orchestrating a fatal attack on her husband, Ross MacGillivray, after initiating a relationship with one of the perpetrators. She subsequently provided false information to the police regarding his death.

The 36-year-old victim died from a fractured skull after being bound and beaten by drug gang members Craig Hayden and Leon Headey in November 2023. His estranged wife initially claimed that two unknown assailants had broken into their home in Inverness, murdered her husband, and then abducted her.

She asserted that she was compelled to leave the residence and walk to a nearby canal, from which she managed to escape by "running for her life."

However, CCTV footage contradicted her account, showing her calmly departing the scene while carrying a bag. Phone records further indicated that she had been exchanging messages with Leon Headey and alerted him when her husband returned home on the night of the murder.

Detectives detailed how her deception was uncovered in a new episode of the BBC Scotland series Highland Cops. They discovered that she had left the crime scene with the killers, disposed of evidence from the house, and provided false statements about the clothing she was wearing at the time.

She was initially charged with murder but pleaded guilty to attempting to defeat the ends of justice. She was sentenced to one year and nine months in prison.

Police camera footage captured the arrest of MacGillivray, who had three children with her husband, in Portsmouth, Hampshire, eight months after the murder. Upon being informed of her arrest on suspicion of murder, she responded, "Murder? I don’t know anything about this."

Detective Inspector Richard Baird of Police Scotland’s Major Investigation Team explained how the falsehoods were rapidly disproven. He stated, "We found deleted messages from Samantha’s phone to Leon Headey’s personal phone. They are flirtatious, salacious. When Ross has got back into the house that evening, she has tipped Leon Headey off."

Hayden, 30, and Headey, 24, each received a minimum sentence of 17 years at the High Court in Edinburgh the previous year after admitting to Ross MacGillivray's murder. Authorities believe the motive for the killing was a dispute related to drugs.

The court was informed that the victim and his wife had become estranged in early 2023 but had continued to see each other.

Highland Cops is available on BBC iPlayer.