DEAL WITH THE DEVIL
HORRIFIED MURDERED OAP’S FAMILY IN SHOCK OVER TEEN MONSTER’S RAPE PLEA BARGAIN
This is first time we have heard about it, no one ever told us. Where is the justice for my great-gran?
– GRAEME WARD, GREAT-GRANDSON OF VICTIM LUCY MARSHALL, 82
when the letter they got back revealed that Millar only agreed to admit the murder on condition that the rape charge was dropped.
It added that prosecutors agreed to the killer’s demand.
Lucy’s great-grandson Graeme Ward told the Daily Record: “This is the first time we’ve heard about the plea deal. We can’t believe it.
“No one ever told us. Where is the justice for my great-gran?
“I can’t get the picture of Millar on top of my gran out of my head.
“I can’t understand how a 14-year-old boy could get turned on by that. What type of animal is he?”
Graeme urged the parole board to ensure that if Millar is freed, he can never return to Lucy’s home town of Cowdenbeath in Fife.
The Crown Office letter laid out – in detail too graphic for us to reproduce – the physical evidence that Lucy was raped.
It said bodily fluids were found on the old lady’s body but attempts to DNA-match them to Millar did not succeed.
And it revealed that fibres found on Lucy’s nightdress, dressing gown and bedsocks were assessed as “indistinguishable” from fibres on the underpants Millar was wearing on the night of the murder.
Lucy’s family have long believed Millar raped her but had never seen this evidence. Graeme said it was “gut-wrenching” to find out about it after so many years.
Millar murdered Lucy at her home in Cowdenbeath on January 24, 1997.
He had been drinking Buckfast with friends and bragging that he was one of the hardest people in the town.
Chillingly, he added that he would kill to prove it.
Less than an hour later, Millar sneaked into angina sufferer Lucy’s home and plunged a kitchen knife into her neck.
Afterwards, he told police: “The old woman came in. I panicked. I only stabbed her once. I didn’t mean to do it. “She was fairly old anyway.” To this day, Lucy’s family have no idea why Millar chose to target her. He has never explained his actions, despite their pleas.
Lucy’s daughter Velma told the Record last year: “He told police he was scared so he stabbed her.
“But she was a frail 82-year-old woman. There was nothing she could have done to him.
“He could have taken whatever he wanted from the house – they were only material things – or even shoved her over. But he chose to pick up that knife.”
The Crown Office letter to the family says: “David Millar was reported to the procurator fiscal at Dunfermline for the murder of Mrs Marshall. The case was reported to Crown Office.
“Mr Millar was indicted to the High Court on a charge of assaulting, raping and murdering Mrs Marshall and a charge of assaulting a care worker who discovered the crime.
“Counsel for Mr Millar indicated he was willing to plead guilty to assaulting and murdering Mrs Marshall, but that he would not plead guilty to rape. “The advocate depute dealing with this case considered that this plea ought
to be accepted. He wrote to the Lord Advocate for instruction.
“The Lord Advocate approved the acceptance of the plea, based in part on concerns as to the sufficiency of evidence for rape.”
The letter said Millar pled guilty on June 17, 1997 to the murder, with the rape charge deleted. The Crown accepted his plea.
Graeme said: “The fact he didn’t get convicted for it doesn’t mean he didn’t do it.
“We just hope the parole board don’t let him ever set foot in Cowdenbeath again.
“It’s a tiny wee town and it would be impossible not to bump into him.
“People need to know what he’s really like – that he’s not only a murderer but had a rape charge hanging over his head.”
Velma added: “I’m angry because my mother never got the justice that she deserved.
“It was bad enough getting told that she was murdered.
“I keep thinking of her being terrorised by Millar, and the fear she must have felt when he was attacking her.
“I’m really not happy about Millar maybe getting released but I know they won’t keep him in forever. He was a kid, but old enough to know right from wrong.”
Velma said the family had met with the parole board to discuss what might happen when Millar’s case came up.
She added: “The lady told us they had certain tests they carry out in jail to see if people are eligible for parole. She told us Millar had failed every single test, every time.”
Millar is due in front of the board next month.
I keep thinking of the fear she must have felt when Millar was attacking her
DAUGHTER VELMA