‘Ineptitude has cost a man his life’

CAMPAIGNERS and politicians yesterday demanded an end to the ‘negligent’ early release of dangerous prisoners following the murder of Craig McClelland.

His killer had been at large for six months after breaching a home curfew.

James Wright, 2 , had 16 previous convictions – two involving possession of a knife – before stabbing the 31-year-old father of three in Paisley last year.

Scottish Conservative justice spokesman Liam Kerr said the early release of ‘clearly dangerous’ Wright was ‘borderline negligence’, adding: ‘A man’s paid for this ineptitude with his life.’ Campaigner John Muir – whose son Damian, 34, was stabbed to death in Greenock, Renfrewshire, by a thug out on bail in 2007 – said something is ‘gravely wrong’ with the justice system if offenders like Wright can be freed early.

He said: ‘With so many convictions, he should have been inside for a long time.

‘People carry out violent offences and get a slap on the wrist, then they’re back to doing it again.

‘No one is getting the maximum four years for possession, and they should. They wouldn’t come back out and do it again, and others would be deterred.

‘We keep hearing that ministers are going to do something but they don’t – [Justice Secretary] Michael Matheson needs to.’

Scottish Labour justice spokesman Daniel Johnson said: ‘It is important that we learn the lessons from this worrying case.

‘It is vital that when curfews are broken, the authorities are able to trace and return that person to custody.’

Liberal Democrat justice spokesman Liam McArthur said: ‘This was a barbaric killing. It is impossible to measure the hurt it has caused. Both the victim’s family and the public, whom he was allowed to walk among, deserve to know the grounds on which James Wright was released, and why he was not tracked down and returned to prison when he broke the rules.’

Nationalist MSP for Paisley George Adam said: ‘I plan on writing to the Scottish Prison Service to ask for clarity – it is only right that the family get answers in order to give them some level of closure.’

The Scottish Government described the incident as a ‘dreadful crime’, adding: ‘If a prisoner released on an HDC licence breaches any of the licence conditions, he or she may be recalled to custody.’