Edith McAlinden was released from prison on 16 October 2004 after serving nine months for a serious assault.
She went to a top-floor flat on Dixon Avenue in Crosshill, Glasgow, where her boyfriend David Gillespie, 42, lived alongside fellow tenant Anthony Coyle, 71, and landlord Ian Mitchell, 67.
During a drinking session, an argument broke out between McAlinden and Gillespie. McAlinden stabbed Gillespie repeatedly in the thighs, severing a femoral vein in one leg; he bled to death. McAlinden then telephoned her son, John McAlinden, for help. John arrived by taxi with his friend, Jamie Gray, and McAlinden persuaded landlord Ian Mitchell to pay the taxi fare, with Mitchell believing the pair had come to help Gillespie.
When John McAlinden realized Mitchell had witnessed events at the flat, he fatally stabbed Mitchell and repeatedly kicked his head, causing severe brain bleeding. Anthony Coyle attempted to escape by locking himself in his bedroom; John and Jamie used a drill to remove the door locks and force entry. Jamie Gray chased Coyle and beat him to death with a golf club.
Approximately two hours later, around 3:00, Edith McAlinden went to neighbour James Sweeney's home and told him something had happened at Mitchell's flat, asking him to check. Sweeney went to the flat, saw blood covering the walls and floors, and called emergency services — a scene that led to the case being nicknamed "The House of Blood."
Police and paramedics arriving at the scene found McAlinden alone, clinging to Gillespie's body. She was formally charged the next day, 18 October, at Glasgow Sheriff Court. Investigators reportedly speculated during the inquiry that McAlinden may not have acted alone and that two or three physically strong individuals could have been involved, given the extent of blood at the scene.
At Glasgow High Court in May 2005, all three defendants initially denied the murders of Mitchell, Coyle, and Gillespie. Prosecutor Sean Murphy QC described the victims as having been beaten with knives, metal files, a belt, and pieces of wood, and struck with a bottle, punched, stabbed, stamped on the head, and had boiling water poured over them. During the trial, the defendants changed their pleas: John McAlinden admitted killing Mitchell, Jamie Gray admitted killing Coyle, and Edith McAlinden admitted killing Gillespie.
On 29 June 2005, Edith McAlinden was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum tariff of 13 years. John McAlinden and Jamie Gray each received a minimum tariff of 12 years. John McAlinden was released in 2016 but was reimprisoned in 2018 for breaching licence conditions.
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