Anguish over ‘ zero’ action for Michelle
The father of a murdered teen says he feels let down by ‘ zero’ action on promised changes to the justice system.
Kenny Stewart, the father of Michelle who was stabbed to death by her ex- boyfriend near her home in Drongan in 2008, raised his concerns at the lack of action via a virtual meeting with Scotland’s Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf on Monday.
Michelle was only 17- years- old when blade killer John Wilson, then aged 20, knifed her 10 times in front of her friends.
Wilson was sentenced to 12 years’ minimum for Michelle’s murder but is due for parole in November and was spotted on Ayr High Street in 2018 on supervised leave – just nine years into his sentence.
The Stewart family have spent years campaigning to strengthen rights for victims of crime.
Under Michelle’s Law, the Stewart family want a range of measures introduced including improvements to the victim notification scheme so families are given reasons for an offender’s release.
They hope to see the welfare of victims and their families taken into account when parole and early release are considered.
And the creation of “exclusion zones” where offenders cannot go during early release.
Ahead of the Monday meeting, Kenny told the BBC: “We heard he was out via social media in Ayr. We weren’t notified. I could have bumped into him.
“I don’t want to be driving down the street and seeing him. It is like provocateur. They should not be putting me in that position.
“In the two years there have been no changes. There was a proposal for change for the Scottish parole board and how people, like me, could get more of a say. It was a great thing but it has disappeared. I don’t know what has happened to it.
“I thought it was becoming law but it has disappeared. He [ Mr Yousaf] did set up a taskforce but what has it actually done? Zero.
“It can’t be that hard because you can
see how quickly they can change the laws for the Covid situation. They can swap laws upside down if they want.”
The justice secretary told the BBC he was “surprised” Mr Stewart thought no progress had been made.
Mr Yousaf said the “transforming parole consultation” had taken on board much of what the Michelle’s Law campaign had asked for.
He said: “There has been a number of changes made or explored.
“For example, I announced changes which I hope will allow victims and their families to attend parole hearings in person. We have piloted that and are working through some of the issues.
“We are also very keen to strengthen the potential for exclusion zones, which is something the parole board can do currently and we are looking to see where we can strengthen that.
“Maybe what we need to do better is communicate where progress is being made. Some of it is still in training and I can appreciate that can sometimes looks like the progress has not been made but it is being made and I look forward to hearing from the Stewart family what more they would like the government to do.”