A Fatal Accident Inquiry (FAI) is to be held into the death of Stuart Drury, who died in prison three years after being convicted of beating his former girlfriend to death with a claw hammer. The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) has lodged a First Notice to begin the court process for the inquiry.
Drury killed Marilyn McKenna on Abbeyhill Street, near her Glasgow home, on September 5, 1998. The 37-year-old mother of three died the day after the attack. Drury was jailed for life in August 2001 after a jury at the High Court in Edinburgh found him guilty for a second time of the murder.
He had been unanimously found guilty two years earlier, but his conviction was quashed on appeal and a re-trial was ordered. On August 3, 2023, Drury died at the age of 57 while a prisoner at HMP Edinburgh.
Mandatory Inquiry into Custodial Death
Because Drury was in legal custody and in the care of the state at the time of his death, COPFS is obliged to investigate such deaths, and a Fatal Accident Inquiry is mandatory. A Preliminary Hearing will be held on November 24, 2026, and the FAI will be heard on December 3, 2026, at Edinburgh Sheriff Court.
The purpose of an FAI includes determining the cause of death, the circumstances in which the death occurred, and establishing what reasonable precautions could have been taken, and could be implemented in the future, to minimise the risk of future deaths in similar circumstances. Unlike criminal proceedings, FAIs are inquisitorial in nature and are used to establish facts rather than to apportion blame.
Procurator Fiscal Andy Shanks, who leads on fatalities investigations for COPFS, said: “The Lord Advocate considers that the death of Stuart Drury occurred while in legal custody and as such a Fatal Accident Inquiry is mandatory. The lodging of the First Notice enables FAI proceedings to commence under the direction of the Sheriff.”
Details of the Murder and Aftermath
During the murder, Drury struck Miss McKenna at least 10 times with a claw hammer before leaving her for dead on the pavement. Her face was shattered by the strikes, which broke her jaw, and she died the following day at Glasgow Southern General Hospital.
Drury told police he had “lost it” after seeing another man come out of Miss McKenna’s house. Their relationship had ended months before, but it was reported that he never accepted it. The dead mother’s answering machine contained abusive and obscene messages from Drury, who had also subjected other members of her family to phone harassment.
Marilyn’s sister Aileen McDermott told the BBC in 2001: “He had been on the telephone and he was really angry. She said he was threatening her and he was really abusive. She said to me that night: 'Aileen I'm going to be found in a pool of blood.'”
In 2001, following his conviction, Drury cut his throat with a razor blade he had kept hidden. He survived after being rushed to hospital and receiving 15 stitches for a superficial neck wound. Drury successfully appealed his murder conviction at the High Court in Glasgow in 1999, and was sentenced to life in prison at a re-trial two years later at the High Court in Edinburgh.
