Horrific moment: Former police officer drives van into funeral home to murder his ex-partner and her mother

A “cowardly” former police officer was jailed after attempting to kill his ex by driving his car through the window of her shop while drunk.

Horrifying surveillance camera footage shows jilted William McBurnie running through the window of a funeral home while his ex-girlfriend Zoe Turnbull and her 71-year-old mother Beverley huddle against the wall in fear.

In the December 2022 attack in Jedburgh, Roxburghshire, the 57-year-old injured both women as he attempted to kill them.

He is now in prison after admitting attempted murder at the High Court in Livingston.

Judge Lord Mulholland warned him that he would be sent to prison for a “very long time” for this “cowardly and selfish act”.

Funeral director Zoe Turnbull, 46, was in a relationship with McBurnie for about two years after he invaded her life

The court heard that McBurnie, a former advanced driver and driving instructor with the Police Service of Northern Ireland, had been drinking whisky since 6am on the day of the attack.

He had exceeded the speed limit almost three times when he deliberately accelerated on an adjacent street and drove towards the store on Market Street at high speed despite a yield sign.

His car drove onto the sidewalk, smashed through two large flower pots and the glass pane of the window, sending shards of glass flying through the air and hitting the office desk so hard that it got stuck in a back wall.

Video footage of the incident shows how close McBurnie came to hitting the two women as they desperately pressed themselves against the side walls of the office.

As he climbed out of the wreckage, the two women could be seen in the background hugging each other in front of the store.

Assistant solicitor Alex Price Marmion said McBurnie was seen stopping his car at the intersection opposite the store twice last week.

CCTV captured the run-up to McBurnies van crashing through the front of Zoe Turnbull’s office

The vehicle crashed through the glass front and narrowly missed Zoe Turnbull and her mother Beverly.

Video footage shows the two women climbing out of the rubble of the office before McBurnie gets out of his van.

The van caused major damage before crashing into a reception desk and destroying it

On the day of the robbery, he was again observed stopping at the intersection before turning right and driving off after a customer had left the funeral home.

A moment later, after driving through a triangle in Jedburgh town centre, 46-year-old Miss Turnbull spotted McBurnie’s car speeding straight towards the glass-fronted office.

She called out to her mother, who was standing behind a frosted pane of the front window, “He’s coming. He’s coming. He’s coming through the window.” She pressed herself against the side wall of the office as the defendant’s car crashed through, narrowly missing them both.

McBurnie, who suffered a burn to his wrist when the car’s airbags deployed, immediately said: “I’m sorry. I don’t know what I was thinking.”

Miss Turnbull, a mother of two who dated McBurnie for about two years, said: “I never wanted a relationship with him but when I tried to tell him or stand up for myself, he went ballistic.”

“I was trapped in my own home.”

“Behind closed doors he controlled every aspect of my life, but in public he was charming to everyone. It made me sick.”

“This man aggressively interfered in our lives. He has brought constant terror to me and my family.

“I am glad that this conviction has allowed his true self to emerge. I am now determined to stay strong and regain control of my life.”

The deputy solicitor said Miss Turnbull suffered a bruised leg and had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of the incident.

She also suffered from tinnitus, was deaf in her right ear, had a low tolerance to noise, and had suffered two cardiac arrests due to broken heart syndrome, which was triggered by extreme stress.

Her mother suffered from atrial fibrillation, shortness of breath and fatigue. Both women submitted victim impact statements to the court.

The deputy counsel said the defendant had been drinking heavily for several months since the end of his relationship with Miss Turnbull and had behaved in an increasingly worrying manner towards her.

He bombarded her with unwanted text messages, phone calls and emails and repeatedly appeared at her office begging her to resume the relationship.

Defence lawyer Gareth Jones said McBurnie, who worked as a freelance photographer for a newspaper in the Borders region, had expressed “sincere remorse” for his actions.

He added that the defendant had only a vague memory of what was going through his mind regarding Zoe Turnbull at the time of the offence.

However, he admitted that his actions were “completely reckless” and that he did it with the intention of killing her.

The court requested background reports and adjourned the case to Thursday, September 19 in Livingston. McBurnie was remanded in custody until then.

Zoe Turnbull is now being assisted in a civil case by law firm Digby Brown after suffering physical injuries as a result of the horrific incident.

She has to wear hearing aids after losing her hearing and suffering injuries to her back and legs when she was hit by flying debris.