Parents of murdered Michelle fight on for victims
Couple say parole board review is a step forward
A heart broken f a m i l y h a v e marked the ten year anniversary since their girl was murdered.
Exactly a decade after 17- year- old Michelle Stewart was brutally stabbed to death on the streets of Drongan by her ex- boyfriend, her family are continuously c a m p a i g n i n g t o implement Michelle’s Law.
The family are pushing for tighter restrictions on early release rules and aiming to make sure blade killer John Wilson is not rehomed in Ayrshire.
And last Thursday, they met with members from Parole Scotland to discuss Wilson’s parole, licence restrictions and exclusion zones.
Sister Lisa Stewart told the Post: “It was good to get more insight into how the parole board works and what they have a say in.
“Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf announced on Wednesday there will be a consultation order review of the parole board undertaken.
“It’s not saying for definite, he’ll implement the points raised in Michelle’s Law campaign but it is a step in the right direction.”
Lisa is concerned that offenders have representation from various sources at parole hearing but there is little for victims.
She said: “One of my main concerns is at the actual parole hearing for these people- they have their prison file, people there from the prison service, a lawyer representing them, maybe social work and risk management- there’s not one person speaks up on behalf of victims. And that’s a huge worry.
“Because once again it’s very much weighted on behalf of the offender.
“At the moment we can speak to a parole board member to put across our views but that person doesn’t even sit on his hearing- they feed that back to other parole members who will sit on the hearing.
“And to us that’s very wrong.
“They need to appoint someone who wi l l represent victims at hearings to give victims their say and to let their voices be heard.”
Earlier this year, the family were horrified to learn knife killer Wilson was spotted in Ayr High Street on supervised leave- just 10 years into his minimum 12 year sentence.
Wilson is currently still behind bars but is in the process of first grant of temporary release.
And the Stewart family are battling to ensure he will not be rehoused in Ayrshire.
Lisa said: “The main fight I think I’m going to have is South Ayrshire Council, as they’ve got a legal obligation to accept him back to the area.
“I t h i n k t h a t ’ s something we need to start highlighting - to let people know publicly that he’s going to be coming back here.
“He’s going to be housed near you.
“It horrifies us to think that he’s going to be walking about.
“It absolutely fills me with dread the thought of him going anywhere near her grave.
“But how do they know? They can’t monitor them continually.
“And I said to my mum ‘ if the worst comes to the worst, we’ll just need to put up a camera’ but it’s bad that we’ve to start thinking like that.
Lisa added: “We do realise we have a long fight ahead of us still but we will keep fighting.”
“We just feel that you can sugarcoat words but action needs to be taken.
“I couldn’t live with myself if it fell by the wayside because this is us fighting for Michelle.
“She didn’t get justice.”