SA: Gilford questions British nurse s morals

AAP General News (Australia)
12-22-1998
SA: Gilford questions British nurse s morals

By Valkerie Mangnall

ADELAIDE, Dec 22 AAP - Frank Gilford today spoke of the difficulty of facing Christmas
without his dead sister as one of the British nurses accused of her murder faces jail for
theft and fraud.

Mr Gilford said the conviction of Lucille McLauchlan in Scotland for stealing money from an
elderly patient, forging references to get work and handling a stolen bank card showed she did
not have high morals.

Describing the latest twist as yet another chapter in the ordeal that followed Yvonne
Gilford's brutal murder, Mr Gilford also said he was upset McLauchlan and her former colleague
Deborah Parry had made money from selling their stories.

"Just another chapter in the saga is what it boils down to," he told AAP from his home in
Jamestown in South Australia's mid-north.

"I just feel it bears out the facts that she (McLauchlan) is not the innocent party that
she likes to portray she is.

"It makes her look like her morals or her ethics are not very high. It's not for me to say
they should be thrown in jail and the key thrown away, it's up to the courts.

"It would be nice to think that she'd do a time in jail, maybe that's not likely."

McLauchlan and Parry spent 17 months in a Saudi Arabian jail over Ms Gilford's murder in
December 1996 when the three nurses worked at the King Fahd Military Hospital.

McLauchlan was convicted of being an accessory to murder and sentenced to eight years in
prison and 500 lashes, while Parry was convicted of murder but no sentence was passed.

The pair were freed earlier this year after Mr Gilford waived his right under Saudi law to
call for the death penalty in return for $1.7 million in compensation, of which he donated $1
million to an Adelaide hospital.

The outback courier said today that while he and his family felt they had put the worst
behind them, it was still tough without Yvonne, especially at this time of year.

"It's been a bit hard because it was her birthday seven days ago and with Christmas coming
up and things like that, it's been pretty hard this time of year," he said.

"We can cope with it a lot better than it was a while back because we've basically got the
worst behind us.

"We've done all the good things, we've done everything in Yvonne's memory, the money's
going to the hospital ... it's going to a worthwhile benefit."

AAP vm/sn/it

KEYWORD: SAUDI NURSES AUST

1998 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.