Victims’ rights must come before killers’

SIR Max Hastings, writing in this paper, said: ‘ Human rights legislation has become a great divider of the British people, a definer of identities. On one side of the argument stand the legal profession which waxes fat on HR spoils; and all those who want to remake Britain as a model of Scandinavian social rectitude.

‘In the other camp is almost everyone who believes that Britain is, on the whole and of its own making, a decent place upholding decent values.’ He went on to argue that we must not become inured to the corrosive effect human rights legislation is having on this country, warning we must ‘stay angry’ to resist its march.

Well, the Mail firmly believes that the latest case involving mutilation murderer William Beggs will make many among our readers deeply angry.

Beggs, in his latest legal-aid funded court foray, argued his rights were trampled when prison staff opened his mail.

Lady Stacey agreed, clearing the way for Beggs to win compensation. Worse, the judge described him as a victim. The average Scot may consider that Beggs forfeited any rights he had on the December 1999 night when he grabbed 18-year- old Barry Wallace off a street, murdered him, cut him to pieces and proceeded to dump his limbs in Loch Lomond. Barry’s head was found on Barassie beach in Ayrshire, wrapped in a plastic bag. Prime Minister David Cameron is determined to throw out Europe’s egregious Human Rights Act; First Minister Nicola Sturgeon is determined to impose it on Scots.

As Sir Max warned, we are in two camps: Those who want the ECHR thrown out and with it the nuisance claims of the likes of Beggs. And on the other are those who seriously believe a man capable of taking a young man’s life and defiling his body should see the law reach out to protect his correspondence.

The law has forgotten who the victim is here: Barry Wallace – not William Beggs.