Family asks for their mother’s killer to be taken to a maximum security prison

The family of a stabbed nurse say Scottish ministers have failed to take action to create a high-security mental health facility for women.

Amy, the daughter of Michele Rutherford, says it is “unacceptable” that there is no place in Scotland for her mother’s killer – he is being treated in a facility in Wales.

Mrs Rutherford, 54, was killed in assisted living at Craighall Court in Stirling in March 2023by local resident Kellyanne McNaughton.

Amy, her sister Lyndsay and their father William have raised their concerns with the Scottish Government, saying they want to ensure McNaughton cannot cause further harm.

Amy told BBC Scotland News: “We are not particularly interested in this person.

“But we want them to get the help and support they need so that everyone else is safer and no one else is put at risk.”

The family will later meet with Justice Minister Angela Constance and Social Services Minister Maree Todd to discuss progress.

Ms Rutherford was the nursing manager at the assisted living facility where 33-year-old McNaughton lived.

McNaughton was originally charged with murder, but in January of this year prosecutors entered a plea to the lesser charge of first-degree murder.

The verdict was postponed several times because of problems in finding a safe hospital to accommodate them.

Mrs Rutherford’s family attended several court hearings and learned that there had been failed talks about transferring McNaughton to two hospitals and to Rampton Secure Hospital in England.

Amy said the trial was traumatic.

She said: ‘We are not really a priority and they don’t care what the families have to go through and they neglect that whole aspect.

“We were not guided through the process as we would have liked.”

In June, it was confirmed that McNaughton would be treated at Llanarth Court Priory Hospital in Monmouthshire, Wales – a medium-risk facility.

But the family believes McNaughton should only be placed in a maximum security facility, the highest level of psychiatric care in Scotland.

This applies to patients who “pose a serious and immediate danger to others if at large”.

However, there is no facility at this level for women in Scotland.

During the attack in March last year, McNaughton stabbed Ms Rutherford multiple times.

Staff had tried to get psychiatric help for McNaughton after she reported hearing voices, but were told she would need to go to a GP to get a new referral.

Michele’s husband William said sending McNaughton to the medium-risk facility in Wales was “simply putting staff at risk”.

“They categorized these people for a reason,” he said.

“In my opinion, a high-risk person goes to a high-risk facility – that facility is set up to deal with that person.

“Why would you put a high-risk person in a medium-risk facility that may not be equipped to handle them and whose staff may not be adequately trained?”

Carstairs, Scotland’s national hospital, only accepts male patients.

In recent years, a small number of women in Scottish prisons with special psychiatric care needs have been admitted to the high security Rampton Hospital in Nottinghamshire.

A 2021 review concluded that it was “unacceptable” to send women needing highly secure psychiatric treatment to England and that Carstairs should be reopened to women within nine months. But this did not happen.

However, the Scottish Government announced that it was now proposing to reopen Carstairs to women.

Justice Minister Angela Constance said: “We are planning a high security facility for women at the State Hospital and work on this is at a very early stage.”

“We are working with health authorities to improve access to care for women who require highly secure psychiatric treatment and we will continue to do so as the longer-term State Hospital concept develops.

“My thoughts are with Michele Rutherford’s family and I have condolences for everything they have had to go through.

The family said the timing of the request was suspicious and yet “too late for them.”

They feel that their mother has largely been overlooked in the media coverage of McNaughton.

Michele Rutherford worked as a nurse and nursing manager for two decades.

She loved family walks on the beach in Ayr and holidays together in Florida in the USA.

Amy said her hope is to ensure other families do not have to go through the same trauma.

“I don’t think we will ever get justice,” she added.

“We’re trying to push this forward so that something good comes out of it and my mother isn’t just gone for no reason.”