WHY WAS HE SET FREE TO STRIKE AGAIN?
Soft-touch fury over murderer who attacked woman FIVE DAYS after being released from jail on home leave
A PSYCHOPATHIC murderer who bludgeoned a dog walker with a dumbbell while on home leave from prison has been handed a second life sentence and warned he may never be freed. robbie mcIntosh, 32, repeatedly clubbed Linda mcDonald on the face and body as she pleaded for mercy.
The horrifying case sparked a fierce political row over ‘soft-touch’ justice yesterday after mrs mcDonald’s family condemned the fact that a ‘sick individual’ like mcIntosh could be considered for release – only to strike again.
However, First minister Nicola Sturgeon rejected calls for a review into the policy, saying that granting home leave to lifers was a ‘well-established part of the rehabilitation process’.
mrs mcDonald, a grandmother, was dragged screaming into the undergrowth
during the brutal murder attempt, which happened on an August afternoon in Dundee last year. She suffered a broken thumb, five scalp wounds and two skull fractures.
Afterwards, McIntosh sent a text message to a friend to say he had run out of cigarettes before fleeing the scene.
The thug was given a life term for murder in 2002 after he ‘butchered’ another dog walker, Anne Nicoll, in a cannabis-fuelled attack in Dundee. He was 15 at the time.
He was allowed out on home leave last summer but attacked Mrs McDonald after only five days.
The ordeal left his 52-year-old victim permanently scarred and suffering from ‘nightmares and flashbacks’.
Passing sentence at the High Court in Aberdeen yesterday, judge Lord Arthurson ordered McIntosh to be jailed for an ‘indeterminate’ period. He must serve at least five years before applying for parole.
Lord Arthurson said: ‘When you are released, if indeed you are ever released at all, is in law a matter for the parole board.
‘Throughout the attack, which was undoubtedly a murderous one, you remained impervious to her pleas for mercy.
‘As she lay on the ground drifting in and out of consciousness, you dragged her from the path into the woods.
‘Thankfully your victim’s screams were heard by other dog walkers and you were seen crouching down and leaning over your victim on the ground.’
Speaking outside court after sentencing, Matthew McDonald, the victim’s husband, said the family hoped ‘life means life’.
The 53-year-old added: ‘On August 7, 2017, the attack on my wife changed our life dramatically. However, we are confident that
‘Unsure when this nightmare will end’
with continued support from our family and friends we will get through this. In the months following the attack our life has been an emotional rollercoaster and we have been unsure when this nightmare part will end.
‘Part of this closure will be helped by the assurances that we have received from the relevant bodies who are investigating the terms of his release.
‘We are hopeful that through this process we will get answers to the straightforward questions we’ve raised because, make no mistake, this could happen to anybody.
‘We also ask people to spare a thought for the Nicoll family.’
At the High Court in Edinburgh last October, after McIntosh admitted attempted murder, Mr McDonald criticised Scottish Prison Service (SPS) chiefs for letting the killer out on unsupervised home leave.
He said: ‘Given his past conviction for a brutal murder, I can’t believe the SPS deemed that this sick individual, who attempted to murder my wife, be allowed to be in the public domain.
‘The fact that they did raises serious questions about the criteria followed by the appropriate authorities – and if there had been strict monitoring, supervision and tagging in place, we wouldn’t be going through this hell.
‘To ensure no other family has to endure what we are experiencing, the SPS and the Parole Board should, as a priority, examine their release criteria and assessment systems. That is the least we would expect.’
McIntosh was only a few days away from a parole hearing that could have freed him when he attempted to murder Mrs McDonald.
The court yesterday heard that there were ‘no apparent warning signs’ that he was going to carry out another attack.
But a subsequent report found that he had ‘psychopathic personality traits’ which made him a ‘high risk’ to women.
McIntosh was previously sentenced to a minimum of 15 years after being found guilty of stabbing civil servant Miss Nicoll 29 times in 2001.
He slit her throat, stabbed her then stamped on her face after brooding over scenes of torture and rape on the internet.
The 15-year ‘punishment period’ of his sentence had to be served before consideration for parole, and ended in 2016 because of time he spent on remand. The convicted killer was given leave from that sentence on August 2, last year, the 16th anniversary of the murder.
Five days later he was captured on CCTV footage leaving his mother’s house in Dundee carrying a rucksack.
Mrs McDonald had taken a path leading to Templeton Woods, an area popular with cyclists and walkers, with her Jack Russell Betsy, about four miles from Law Hill in Dundee where Miss Nicoll was killed.
She described McIntosh as ‘expressionless’ as he passed her in on the path.
But, seconds later, he ran back and start beating her with a dumbbell.
Mrs McDonald was in court yesterday to see justice being done. She was visibly distressed when McIntosh, sporting a shaved head and beard, was led into the courtroom in handcuffs.
Last night, a spokesman for the Scottish Prison Service said home release was ‘an important part of testing the rehabilitation’ of prisoners but admitted that this would be of little consolation to the McDonald family.
He added: ‘The risk assessment procedure for individuals getting
to this point of home release has never been more rigorous than it is now. We take our job of testing people for release very seriously.’
Former Detective Constable Heather Sharpe, who was appointed family liaison officer to McIntosh’s mother after he was arrested for killing Miss Nicoll, previously revealed her fears that he would strike again if released.
Speaking last October, following the attack on Mrs McDonald, Miss Sharpe said: ‘I knew that he was due to be released and it genuinely worried me that he would strike again.
‘I believe he should have served a life sentence for the life he took.
‘McIntosh’s family went into denial. They simply didn’t want to believe that Robbie had killed Anne Nicoll. His mum did everything that she could to stick by him – and while I had to remain neutral at the time, it was difficult.’