Sick couple jailed for trying to gas two children in murder-suicide bid before knife frenzy

dailyrecord.co.uk:

A man and a woman who tried to murder two children and attempted to kill each have been jailed for a total of 19 years. Stacey Archibald, 33, was sentenced to eight years' imprisonment after she was earlier convicted of three charges of attempted murder and one of culpable and reckless conduct.

Her co-accused Christopher McTaggart, 42, was given an 11 year jail term after he was found guilty of three attempted murder charges and an offence of culpable and reckless conduct.The pair were also ordered to serve further five year periods of supervision in the community when they can be returned to prison if they breach licence conditions.They cut a live gas pipe at Archibald's home in Stenhousemuir and attached a hose to it and put the other end into the living room, causing gas to flow into the property .They took steps to prevent gas escaping by sealing windows, vents and a door and exposed two boys, who were sleeping overnight in the living room, to the effects of gas inhalation to the danger of their lives.

The children later left the property to go to a relative's home.The pair's reckless conduct on April 22 and 23 in 2022 also caused a risk of explosion and fire and endangered the lives of other occupants of the building and posed a danger to the public.Archibald and McTaggart, of Mauchline, in Ayrshire, remained at the flat and inflicted serious, disfiguring knife wounds on each other's arms in a bid to murder each other.They had denied a series of charges during a trial at the High Court in Edinburgh but were found guilty of the attempted murders and reckless conduct.

The trial judge, Lord Weir, told them they were convicted of "serious and concerning offences".The court heard that after emergency services were