THE WIFE of convicted killer David Gilroy has agreed to sell their former home in order to pay off mortgage debts.
Lawyers acting for the Bank of Scotland told Sheriff Nigel Ross that Andrea Gilroy, 45, has agreed to put the property, in Silverknowes, Edinburgh, on the open market.
The nurse is being forced to quit her home because she can no longer afford to pay the loan which had been secured on the property.
The financial institution took Mrs Gilroy and her husband - who is currently serving a life sentence in Perth Prison for murdering former lover Suzanne Pilley in 2010 - to Edinburgh Sheriff Court earlier this month.
The court heard that Mrs Gilroy had missed a number of mortgage payments on the house, which cost the couple £210,000 in 2003. It is not known how much Mrs Gilroy had owed the bank. The hearing was continued for Mrs Gilroy and the bank to resolve the matter.
Mr Gilroy was convicted at the High Court in Edinburgh in March 2012 of murdering his former lover Ms Pilley. He was jailed for life the following month.
During his trial, a jury heard how Gilroy was a jealous control freak who worked alongside Ms Pilley, 38, at an office complex in Edinburgh city centre.
A jury heard that police believed Gilroy may have strangled Ms Pilley in May 2010 and dumped her body close to the Rest and Be Thankful beauty spot in Argyll. Detectives have yet to find her remains.
In February 2010 Andrea Gilroy was called as prosecution witness to give evidence against her husband at his trial at the High Court in Edinburgh. However, she exercised her legal right not to testify against him.
Mrs Gilroy stood in the witness box and smiled at her partner as he sat just a few yards away in the dock.
After learning that Mrs Gilroy was married to the accused, trial judge Lord Bracadale said it was her right in Scots law not to give evidence against her partner.
He asked Mrs Gilroy: "Do you wish to give evidence?"
Mrs Gilroy then responded: "No I do not."
She also came to court when her husband tried to appeal without success to have his conviction quashed at the Appeal Court in Edinburgh last year.
Sheriff Nigel Ross yesterday heard that the Gilroys had agreed to put the house on the market and that the bank no longer wanted to pursue the action against the pair.
Sheriff Ross agreed that the matter should be brought to an end.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article