The Murder of Maureen Cosgrove

When investigators interviewed George Maben, he explained that he was in a relationship with Lucy and that they had been together for about two years. He said that Lucy was pregnant with his child. Although he lived with his 82-year-old mother, Maben said that he often stayed at the Cosgrove residence and confirmed that Maureen had provided most of the childcare for Lucy's two children. He told the detectives that his relationship with Maureen was not solid, that it was "up and down," and it was learned during the course of the investigation that he had told others that he felt that Mrs. Cosgrove did not approve of him.

On the day of the murder he said that he had arranged to meet with Lucy in the nearby Sutton town center at 11:30 a.m., and they had sat outside a pub and had a drink. At one point, Lucy had attempted to reach her mother by telephone, but Maureen had not responded. Lucy then called her sister to see if she had seen or spoken to their mother, only to learn that she had not. After leaving the pub, he said that he and Lucy had done some shopping before driving back to Maureen's house.

He then explained how they had found Maureen's body, and also told how he had noticed that the back gate was open, the laundry door was open, and a side door was also ajar, this in addition to the back patio door being open. He said that all this was unusual because Maureen was very security conscious and would not have left any of the doors open or ajar. He said that it was his opinion that Maureen had been killed during a burglary that had gone awry. When asked if anything appeared to be missing, Lucy noted that her mother's handbag was nowhere to be found.

One of the officers taking Maben's statement noticed that he had sustained an injury to one of his hands. The officer noted that the injury was not a cut or a bruise, but had the appearance of a "friction" mark. When asked how he had injured his hand, Maben explained that he had been repairing his own mother's washing machine and that the injury had occurred when he pulled the washing machine out from the wall.