‘LIMBS’ KILLER IN EU PAYOUT STORM
Murderer is a victim, says judge
‘LIMBS in the Loch’ killer William Beggs is in line for a payout after a judge yesterday ruled prison staff had breached his human rights by opening his mail.
Calling him a ‘victim,’ Lady Stacey said officials should not have opened his private correspondence.
Doing so contravened the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). Serial litigant Beggs is notorious for launching legal challenges over alleged failings of the justice and penal system since being jailed for murder in 2001.
It emerged last night that more than £800,000 has been paid out in legal aid for his criminal and civil cases.
The judgment raises questions over SNP opposition to the UK Government’s plan
to repeal the Human Rights Act, aimed at stopping criminals cashing in on supposed breaches.
Victims’ rights campaigner John Muir said last night: ‘We should be saying to Beggs, “You have taken this man’s life and robbed him of his future. You will get nothing”. The worst thing is that all this is coming from the public purse. It’s absolutely ridiculous.’
Scottish Tory justice spokesman Margaret Mitchell said: ‘The public will be appalled and outraged that William Beggs, a dangerous and depraved individual, is now being described as a “victim”.’
Beggs, 51, was jailed for life after murdering and dismembering 18-year-old Barry Wallace in Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, in 1999. He had previously been jailed in 1987 for another murder, but that conviction was overturned on appeal.
During his trial, the court heard Beggs dumped Mr Wallace’s limbs and torso in Loch Lomond. His head was thrown into the sea off the Ayrshire coast.
Trial j udge Lord Osborne ordered Beggs to serve a minimum of 20 years.
In the latest case, Lady Stacey said Scottish Prison Service (SPS) staff should not have opened confidential correspondence from the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).
In a written judgment at the Court of Session, she ruled the SPS failed to respect his rights under Article 8 of the ECHR, which guarantees the ‘right to respect’ for people’s ‘private and family life’ and their ‘home and correspondence’.
Lady Stacey said the SPS did not follow its own guidelines. She described Beggs as a ‘victim’ and said his lawyers could address her on whether further action should be taken against the SPS at a future hearing.
Beggs has pursued a series of legal actions since he was convicted and has previously won a payout because his appeal took too long to be heard.
In the current action, lawyers addressed Lady Stacey at a hearing earlier this year.
Beggs’ l awyers said prison authorities opened or delayed delivering his correspondence on various occasions between January 2013 and January 2015, when he was an inmate at HMP Glenochil near Alloa, Clackmannanshire, and HMP Edinburgh.
His advocate, Kenneth Campbell, QC, argued that because the letters had been sent from the ICO, the correspondence was confidential and should not have been opened. He also said SPS guidelines showed letters from the ICO were supposed to be treated by prison officers as confidential documents.
The court also heard prison authorities had given him an undertaking in 2003 not to open his correspondence unlawfully. That undertaking was breached in December 2004.
Yesterday, Lady Stacey ruled the SPS did not do enough to ensure its guidelines about what constituted private and confidential correspondence were implemented by jail staff.
She said: ‘I find that the petitioner’s rights under Article 8 have been breached, although I make no finding that anything was done deliberately or maliciously. I make that finding because the respondents were well aware of the peti- tioner’s concern about his mail over a period of about 12 years.’
No date has been set for a hearing on whether further action should be taken, including a possible compensation payout.
Scottish Labour MSP and former assistant chief constable of Strathclyde Police Graeme Pearson said: ‘ I would have expected, by now, that the Scottish Government and SPS would have taken the necessary steps to ensure they gave Mr Beggs no case to take to court, and that seems to me to be negligent.’
An SPS spokesman said: ‘We can confirm t hat we have received the decision and we are considering any next steps. It would not be appropriate for SPS to comment further.’
The total cost of legal aid for all civil and criminal cases for Beggs stands at £805,396. The legal aid costs for the latest case are not yet known.
A Scottish Legal Aid Board (SLAB) spokesman said: ‘Where legally aided persons are successful in civil cases and the court awards expenses against the opponents this can result in there being no cost to the Legal Aid Fund. We only pay for work that has actually and reasonably been done, with due regard being had to economy.’
A Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘We will reflect carefully on the Court of Session’s judgment. We will continue to oppose any attempt by the UK Government to r epeal t he Human Rights Act.’
Comment – Page 14
‘The public will be outraged’ ‘His rights have been breached’