TRACY REID: HORRIFIC CHILD MURDER AND HER SECRET PAST REVELATION IN INVERNESS
On August 8, 2010, a heartbroken father shared his shock and despair upon discovering that the woman he married, Rachel Collins—whom he believed was a loving stepmother—was actually Tracy Reid, notorious for her brutal past involving the murder of her own daughter, Danielle.Chris Beattie, 40, recounted how he married Rachel in June, just two months after their son was born.
The newborn was taken into care shortly after birth, and Rachel had blamed his previous drug and driving convictions for their loss.
However, during a recent court hearing, a social worker inadvertently revealed Rachel’s true identity as Tracy Reid, a woman with a gruesome history.
Chris expressed disbelief: “I can’t believe her web of lies.
I had no idea.
She even decorated our sitting room with pictures of Danielle—she told me it was her niece.
I believed her.” He added, “She had me believing the reason our baby wasn’t coming home was because of my convictions.
All my offences were minor—traffic or possession of class B drugs.
I didn’t throw my own daughter in a canal.
Nobody would trust her to look after a child.” Reid, 33, had previously watched her lover Lee Gaytor, also 33, brutalize Danielle—her five-year-old daughter—and leave her to die in 2002.
Her actions were harrowing: Reid bundled Danielle’s lifeless body into a suitcase, dragged it through the streets of Inverness, and abandoned it in the Caledonian Canal, where the child was found three months later.
In 2003, Reid was sentenced to eight years in prison for conspiracy to pervert the course of justice and neglecting to seek help for her critically injured daughter.
Three years later, while incarcerated, she started exchanging letters with Chris, who was in Perth Nick for dangerous driving following a police chase.
A prison priest suggested he write to “Rachel Collins,” and their correspondence quickly became romantic.
Chris recalled, “She told me she was in jail because she’d been caught with a gun.” Upon her release in October 2008, Reid moved to Edinburgh, and Chris moved in with her the following year.
They were delighted when she fell pregnant during July of the previous year.
Chris described how he treated her: “I was working as a labourer, earning decent money.
I did my best to treat her like a princess—making breakfast, cooking, cleaning.
She loved money; I pawned my granddad’s gold chains to keep her happy.
She’d buy expensive boots and never wear them.
She also loved sunbeds.” The birth of their baby boy in April brought joy, but that happiness was short-lived as social services took the child into care on the day he was supposed to go home.
Chris said, “I was at the birth, but social workers took him away the same day.
Reid told me it was because of my convictions, not the truth.” Interestingly, just two months after their son’s birth, the couple was married in Leith, with just Chris’s brother as a witness.
Reid registered the birth on the same day but used different names on official documents—some indicating her name as Tracy Michelle Reid or Collins, others as Rachel Reid or Collins.
There were also discrepancies between two birth certificates for the child.
Chris believed he married Rachel Collins, thinking she wanted to marry quickly for the baby.
“I bought her a £300 dress, flowers, and a ring.
She kept the documents hidden in her handbag, probably so I wouldn’t see them,” he said.
The truth emerged unexpectedly during a child protection meeting when Reid’s real name, Tracy Reid, was accidentally mentioned by a social worker.
Shocked, Chris confronted her, discovering her hidden papers detailing her involvement in Danielle’s brutal murder.
“It was like I’d lost everything.
I shivered just thinking about what she did to Danielle.
She’s an evil beast, and I never want to see her again,” he claimed, saying he would now seek to annul their marriage.
The following day, Reid arrived at their Edinburgh home with police to retrieve her belongings.
Chris revealed, “After she left, I found papers from the Children’s Reporter that she had hidden.
She told social workers I’d been violent, which isn’t true.” In a tearful interview, Reid denied the accusations and claimed Chris had known her as Tracy Reid since she was 16, asserting she had been at college with him.
She accused him of violence, alleging he attacked her when she was pregnant.
Regarding the child’s removal, she claimed, “It’s his fault.
He said he’d run away with him.
I would never harm my child.
I’m sorry for everything I’ve done—that’s why I’m leaving now.” Her past and her dark deeds culminated in her and Gaytor’s 2003 imprisonment.
Gaytor admitted to murdering Danielle at a house in Inverness, with a judge ruling he should serve at least 18 years.
Tracy Reid and Christopher Gaytor’s brother, he was jailed for a year for helping to dispose of Danielle’s body.
Gaytor’s crime details revealed a drug-fueled assault on Danielle that may have been survivable if medical aid had been sought.
Reid admitted to neglect, failing to seek help, and conspiring to pervert justice by disposing of Danielle's body in a weighted suitcase, which was carried through Inverness and dumped in Muirtown Basin.
For two months, no one realized Danielle was missing because Reid falsely claimed she had been taken to Manchester to her daughter’s school.
The court judged her actions as grave neglect, highlighting her role in the girl’s death and her callous conduct in public.
At the high court in Perth, Lord Hardie condemned Reid’s conduct: “You must accept responsibility.
Although you didn’t cause Danielle’s fatal injuries, your failure to act likely led to her death.
The loss will weigh on your conscience forever because of your breach of parental trust.” His sentencing followed a three-day hearing into whether Reid’s behavior was influenced by her relationship with Gaytor or by drug abuse.
Defense expert Dr.
Mairead Tagg had suggested her spirit was broken by abuse, but the judge rejected this, emphasizing it was “a matter of speculation”.
John Campbell QC, representing Reid, expressed remorse, stating, “There was nothing to suggest she willingly walked across Inverness with her daughter’s body in a suitcase.” Detective Inspector Stevie MacKay described the case as a brutal murder and expressed his sympathies to the girl’s family, condemning Reid’s role in the disposal of Danielle’s body as “beyond belief.”
