The wife of Skye shotgun killer Finlay MacDonald claims he is tormenting her from prison by blocking access to the family home and trying to have their children taken away from her.
MacDonald was last month jailed for a minimum term of 28 years for murdering his brother-in-law and attempting to murder his wife Rowena and two other people.
But Mrs MacDonald, who suffered life-threatening stab injuries at her husband’s hands, has told how he has continued to make her life a misery from behind bars after he was arrested over the gun and knife rampage in August 2022.
The mother-of-four told The Scottish Sun on Sunday that MacDonald has refused to allow her access to the family croft they shared in Tarskavaig, on Skye’s Sleat peninsula, in order to retrieve her and her children’s belongings.
Mrs MacDonald, 34, said her estranged husband, whom she is planning to divorce, has attempted to claim that anything she now owns should belong to him.
She said: ‘He tried to take my car and claim on my new house too. He got a solicitor to say the property was half his as we are still married. He did warn me that if I were ever to leave him he would make sure I had nothing.’
She said MacDonald contacted social services to claim his wife wasn’t fit to take care of their children. She said: ‘He attempted to get the kids taken off me.
‘He reported me to social services. Their only concern was that I kept him away from them.
Rowena MacDonald, the wife of shotgun killer Finlay MacDonald claims he is threatening her from prison and trying to have her children taken from her
MacDonald has refused to allow Mrs MacDonald access to the family croft they shared in Tarskavaig, in order to retrieve her and her children’s belongings
‘I’ve gone to Women’s Aid and the police for help but it’s all legal what he’s doing. It’s just unfair. I hoped there would be a way he was forced to stop but I knew he’d make it as hard as he could.’
Mrs MacDonald, who was stabbed nine times by her marine engineer husband, said: ‘He has no limits. He is awful.
‘He has left his own kids destitute and is doing everything he can to make things harder.
‘If I can get away with it I will never talk to or see him again. What he’s done will affect me, the kids and so many others for the rest of our lives.’
MacDonald, 41, carried out the attacks on August 10, 2022. The High Court in Edinburgh heard he stabbed his wife after accusing her of having an affair, something she denies, before driving to nearby Teangue, where he fatally shot his brother-in-law John MacKinnon, 47.
Tailed by police, he travelled to the mainland and shot his former osteopath John MacKenzie – whom he blamed for making a back injury worse – and his wife Fay, both 65, at their home in Dornie, Wester Ross.
MacDonald stabbed his wife nine times after accusing her of having an affair, something she denies
Forensics officers at the MacDonalds’ home in Teangue on the Isle of Skye
Last month, a jury found MacDonald guilty of one count of murder, three counts of attempted murder, and one count of possession of a shotgun ‘with intent to endanger life’.
At the High Court in Edinburgh Lady Drummond told MacDonald there is no guarantee he will ever be released. MacDonald has since lodged appeals against his conviction and life sentence.
Mrs MacDonald said she had been considering leaving her husband for some time before the attacks: ‘I fell out of love years and years ago,’ she said. ‘There’s only so much abuse you can take and still love someone.’
Told about MacDonald’s trail of destruction while recovering from surgery in hospital, she said: ‘Nothing surprised me by that point. He was so calm and deliberate when he attacked me and then collected his things and left.
‘I was just so shaken that John had lost his life and that Finlay had actually tried to kill John and Fay – all for no good reason.’
Mrs MacDonald is seeking to finalise her divorce, saying: ‘I want all our freedoms back.’
