Miscarriage victim appeals for witnesses

The attack happened outside a post office on Stockwell Street

A pregnant woman who miscarried after she was robbed in Glasgow city centre has appealed for witnesses to the attack, which she believes, caused the death of her baby.

Lyndsay McMahon, 24, was attacked in the city's Stockwell Street on Wednesday while taking a four- figure sum of cash from her employers to a nearby post office.

After a struggle, her male attacker escaped in a stolen car driven by an accomplice.

Mrs McMahon, from Glenburn, Paisley, was taken to the city's Rottenrow maternity hospital but was found to have miscarried. She was 12 weeks pregnant.

I want to help catch him. There were a lot of people there at the time and they must have seen something

Lyndsay McMahon

On Thursday, accompanied by her mother Grace Chalmers, she attended a news conference in Strathclyde police headquarters to appeal for witnesses.

Mrs McMahon said her husband of three years, Peter, was too upset to attend and had stayed at home with their four-year-old daughter, Stacey Ann.

Recalling the attack, Mrs McMahon said: "The taxi was waiting right outside the shop.

"It stopped outside the post office and just as I stepped out of the taxi that's when the man approached me. He asked me the time."

Shop takings

Mrs McMahon said he tried to grab the shop takings and they both struggled before he made off with the money.

"He was not intentionally trying to hurt me. It was the money he was after," she said.

"I was taken straight to Rottenrow hospital to get checked over. Before we got there I thought everything was fine."

The woman was taken to the maternity hospital

But after examining her, doctors found she had suffered a miscarriage.

Mrs McMahon said she and her husband had been trying to have a baby for around a year and had already started making preparations for the birth.

She also spoke about the difficulty of explaining the attack to her young daughter Stacey Ann.

"It's been really difficult to make her understand. But I do not want her to feel I am shutting her out," she said.

"The only thing I can say is that the baby was sick and has gone to heaven and God is going to look after it."

News conference

Mrs McMahon said she was taking part in the news conference to help police in their search for her attacker.

"I want to help catch him. There were a lot of people there at the time and they must have seen something.

"I have just got out of hospital and not had time to let all this sink in. I just feel it's not me it's happening to - it's someone else."

Detective Sergeant Eddie Tweedie

Detective Sergeant Eddie Tweedie said he spoke to a consultant at the hospital who had assured him Mrs McMahon's unborn baby had been growing normally until the incident.

He said Strathclyde Police are anxious to speak to the driver of Mrs McMahon's black cab and a man and woman who witnessed the incident.

Mrs McMahon's assailant is described as 5ft 7in with short, black untidy hair and was wearing dark clothing. His accomplice is said to be of medium build and in his late forties.

The getaway car, a stolen silver Ford Mondeo, was later found abandoned in Parnie Street, Glasgow.

At the news conference Mrs McMahon said she had worked as a cashier at the bookmakers since last April and her employers knew she was pregnant.

She said she had taken cash to the post on a number of occasions but was not aware that anyone might have been monitoring her movements.