THE couple accused of murdering Margaret Fleming have today been remanded in custody after being fully committed for trial.

Eddie Cairney, 76, and Avril Jones, 57, each face four separate charges in relation to the claimed abduction, assault and killing of Margaret and an alleged fraud said to total more than £180,000.

Lawyers for both Cairney and Jones asked for them to be granted bail, but this was refused by Sheriff David Hall.

Prosecutors say that the duo locked Margaret in a room within their former home, Seacroft, in Inverkip, bound her arms and wrists with tape and held her captive against her will between November 1 1997 and January 5 2000.

It is alleged that between December 18 in 1999 and January 5 in 2000, while acting together, that by inflicting blunt force trauma on Margaret or means presently unknown, they murdered her.

The last independent sighting of Margaret - who was officially reported missing in October last year - was in December 1999.

The Crown claims that Cairney and Jones disposed of, destroyed or concealed her remains and pretended to authorities that she was alive in order to defeat the ends of justice, all between December 18 1999 and October 28 this year.

The pair are further accused of carrying out a £182,000 fraud by illegally claiming state benefits, disability payments and carers allowance on Margaret's behalf while knowing that she was dead.

Cairney, represented by Greenock lawyer Aidan Gallagher, and Jones, represented by defence advocate John McIlroy made no plea during separate hearings at Greenock Sheriff Court this afternoon.

They are due to appear next at the High Court, on a date which is yet to be determined.