What would you do if you were aware that your child had murdered someone? Would you brush the information under the carpet, or would you report your child to the police? Margaret Anderson (53), chose to do the latter after watching a murder reconstruction on Crimewatch, where the description of the murderer was of her son, Lee Anderson (33).
Margaret Anderson, from Paisley, Scotland, informed the police via email after struggling “between her instinct as a mother and her duty to uphold the law”.
Lee Anderson had fatally stabbed a local shopkeeper, Javaid Ali (48), after a robbery in 2012. Customers had found the shopkeeper on the floor of his shop with a severed artery in his neck. Ali later died in hospital from brain damage.
Up to sixty officers were investigating the death and had placed a reward of £50,000 for those who came forward with information. However, officers turned to Crimewatch to appeal for witnesses, after a series of inconclusive investigations.
Ms Anderson said, “I watched the episode and as soon as I saw the reconstruction I froze. I recognised the clothing. It was the kind of thing Lee would wear and the man had the same kind of physical features. I wondered was it the right thing to do or not? But in the end I decided, yes, this is the right thing to do. Afterwards different thoughts were going through my head. What will people think of me? Lee will probably hate me. I never spoke to anyone about it. I just sat in the house for a couple of days. I never told anyone, not even my fiance. Then, when I heard nothing back, I thought that was it."
She also mentioned how a day later, her son made a “joke” confession to her. “We were in the kitchen. I had gone in to put the kettle on to make a cup of tea. I was at the washing machine, taking the clothes out. And he said, 'It was me.' I got a fright. I was, like, what? And he started laughing. And I said, 'That's not funny.' He never said, 'Mum, I killed him'."
The police arrived a few weeks later and spoke about her email. She broke down and mentioned about the confession that he made in the kitchen.
Her son denied murder at Glasgow High Court, however, he was found guilty of culpable homicide and was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment, in September 2013.
Despite her son serving a long prison sentence, they have reconciled. They speak regularly on the phone. She said, “'Just last night on the phone he said to me, 'We don't play the blame game'. It seems like we're more loving now he's in jail. It's like we're talking more about things.”
Ms Anderson knew she did the right thing, but as a mother, she felt torn from within. “I was shocked. I know I did the right thing within the law, but my own conscience is torn. That shopkeeper was an innocent man though, and he deserved justice. I just wish it hadn't been my son who was the perpetrator.”
