Mary Logie murder was 'breathtakingly wicked,' says judge

Despicable Sandra Weir (41) struck defenceless Mary Logie (82) 31 times with a rolling pin in a brutal attack at the pensioner’s home in Leven in January.

Jurors at the High Court in Edinburgh took just 55 minutes yesterday (Thursday) to unanimously find Weir guilty of killing Mary and stealing approximately £4,000 from her.

The crook stole money between November 2014 and January 2016 from Mary’s bank account in order to pay for her drug addiction.

At one stage the loving grandmother discovered this rather than contact the police and decided to allow Weir the opportunity to pay the cash back.

However, Weir just continued to help herself to cash before murdering Mary at her property at Greengates in Leven.

Judge Michael O’Grady QC told Weir that he found the details surrounding her crimes shocking.

He said: “Throughout all of this, you have neither shown nor expressed a hint of compassion or a flicker of emotion.

He added: “In these courts we do not weigh the worth of victims; nor should we. All life is precious. But on the evidence before me, Rae Logie was a decent, kind tolerant and harmless elderly lady.

“Indeed, she was decent, kind and tolerant towards you and offered you no harm or offence.

“That you should have betrayed her trust and kindness by theft and deceit is shocking enough. That, in the last year of her life, you should have preyed upon her and undermined her confidence and peace of mind is shocking also.

“But sadly - many of us have to come to recognise that such is the pernicious grip of drug addiction, betrayal and deceit come with the territory.

“But of course, it is the fact and manner of her death that are so breathtakingly wicked.”

Prosecutors suspect Weir initially assaulted Mrs Logie early on the morning of January 5.

The Crown suggested Mrs Logie spent the day alive lying on the floor, unable to call for help and that Weir returned to her neighbour’s house before 8pm and administered the blows which killed her.

After the jury returned at mid day to return their verdicts on two charges of theft and one charge of murder, Weir started weeping loudly in the dock.

She also started rocking forward in the dock as two security guards looked on.

Following the verdict, prosecution lawyer Alex Prentice QC told the court that Weir had previous convictions for road traffic offences and possessing heroin.

Judge Michael O’Grady QC told Weir he would have to defer sentence for the court to obtain reports on her character.

He added: “I have no doubt that you then left her for dead. Equally, I have no doubt that, in a cold and utterly calculating way, you went about your business - seemingly as normal - for the rest of the day, intending to return in the evening and so distance yourself from what had apparently transpired in your contrived absence.

“Instead you found she was still alive. And that you could not allow. And so, as she lay defenceless, you simply finished her off.

“That is a brutal phrase but I cannot find any description more fitting. Nor can I find words to truly reflect the cruelty of what you did.”

Weir will be sentenced at the High Court in Edinburgh on January 12.