THE couple accused of murdering Margaret Fleming are set to try and overturn a decision to deny them bail, the Tele can reveal.

Eddie Cairney, 76, and Avril Jones, 57, remain locked up after appearing separately at Greenock Sheriff Court on Friday afternoon when the case against them was fully committed for trial.

However, the Telegraph understands that lawyers acting for the pair are today set to submit an appeal to the High Court in a bid to overturn the ruling of Sheriff David Hall to remand them in custody.

A hearing on the matter is likely to take place within seven days of the appeal application being made.

Cairney and Jones 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.

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 their separate hearings on Friday.