Millionaire property developers who want to build homes at the site at the centre of the Margaret Fleming murder case say it has a ''melancholy that needs to be lifted’.

The trial of murder accused Avril Jones, 58, and Edward Cairney, 77, is due to begin at the High Court in Glasgow this month.

Jones and Cairney are accused of murdering Margaret and stealing nearly £200,000 in benefits.

Margaret was reported missing from the house in Inverkip, Inverclyde, where they lived together but allegedly had not been seen since December 1999.

She would now be aged 38, and although her carers have been charged with murder, Margaret's body has never been found.

But the land where the couple lived has been cited for development for three ultramodern homes, geometrically designed with glass balconies.

Despite the trial not having started, entrepreneur Minaz Rajabali, 57, and business partner Harinder Singh Kohli, 51, based in the West Midlands, bought Seacroft cottage for £120,000 in 2017.

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They have permission to demolish it.

A planning application described the location as a "beautiful area of land with a melancholy that really needs to be lifted".

Now a planning application has been submitted to Inverclyde Council from Mr Kohli to build three 'architecturally designed' houses on the site by the River Clyde.

Background papers submitted as part of the application say: "It is essential here to emphasise the very sad recent history of this site.

"It has been/is at the forefront of a murder inquiry and trial and as such has left this beautiful area of land with a melancholy that really needs to be lifted.

"It is in the interests of the area, and of course the nearby neighbours, to bring new life to this land and erase, where possible, the memory left.

"An exciting new modern development will help achieve this."

The design and access statement said: "This dynamic development of three dwellings overlooking the Firth of Clyde offers a new and fresh image to an existing dilapidated site.

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"It will be situated on the current grounds of a disused house which is partly demolished and has been vacant for a number of years."

Seacroft Cottage was described as a 'dilapidated house and outhouse currently occupying the site ' in documents submitted to the local authority.

The planning documents added: "With its close proximity to the rocks and rambling shoreline this makes it ideal for a rich palette of complementary materials which will comprise planar glass both in balustrading and in its glazed facades."

Cairney and Jones, who previously lived at the property, are accused by prosecutors of assaulting Margaret Fleming and murdering her 'by means unknown'.

It is alleged that Cairney and Jones abducted Margaret, locked her in a room, assaulted her, cut her hair and bound her arms and wrists with tape on various occasions between November 1, 1997 and January 5, 2000.

The pair also face two charges of attempting to defeat the ends of justice.

One is for boarding a train to London on October 25, 2017 with £3,500 in cash and keys to a safe deposit box, which contained £27,000.

The other is for pretending to social workers, police, and benefits officials between December 18, 1999 and October 26, 2017, that Margaret was alive, to claim £182,000 in benefits.

Jones and Cairney deny all of the charges against them and are due to go on trial at the High Court in Glasgow on April 23.

The planning application for the proposed homes at Seacroft is currently pending consideration by Inverclyde Council.

Police Scotland refused to comment on the decision to build on the site.

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