Oil worker’s savage killer found dead in his cell, 169 days into 23yr sentence
A KILLER who murdered an oil worker has been found dead in his cell – on the same day his co-accused lost appeals against their sentences.
Steven Dickie, 24, who was convicted earlier this year of the killing of Steven Donaldson at a nature reserve in Angus, was discovered yesterday morning. It is believed he took his own life.
His death comes as his accomplices Tasmin Glass, 20, and Callum Davidson, 24, had their legal appeals against the length of their sentences rejected by judges at the Court of Criminal Appeal in Edinburgh.
Dickie, who was serving a minimum 23-year term for killing Mr Donaldson near Kirriemuir on June 7 last year, was found at HMP Perth at around 7.30am.
His death was confirmed by the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) who said police had been informed. It is understood there are no suspicious circumstances. An SPS spokesman said: ‘Steven Alexander Dickie, 24, a prisoner at HMP Perth has died. A Fatal Accident Inquiry will be held in due course.’
A spokesman for Police Scotland said: ‘Police received a report that a 24-year-old man had died in Perth prison. The death is being treated as unexplained and enquiries are ongoing.’
Dickie and co-accused Davidson were convicted in May of murdering Mr Donaldson following a trial at the High Court in Edinburgh and jailed for life.
Davidson was told he must spend at least 24 years in jail, while Glass, who also originally faced a murder charge, was sentenced to ten years’ imprisonment after she was convicted of the lesser offence of culpable homicide for her role in the brutal killing of her former boyfriend. She had been pregnant with his child at the time.
Mr Donaldson, 27, from Arbroath, Angus, was found dead at a nature reserve on June 7 last year after he was subjected to ‘extreme violence’ by Dickie and Donaldson.
They armed themselves with a baseball bat, knife and a cleaver or axe before overpowering Mr Donaldson at a playpark where he had gone to meet Glass.
He was then abducted but tried to escape and was cut down without mercy. Davidson’s counsel, Brian McConnachie QC, yesterday told appeal judges the 24-year minimum term, known as a punishment part, was ‘excessive’.
Mr McConnachie pointed out that in a major previous appeal case on sentencing in murder cases it was indicated 16 years was the starting point for such offences involving a knife.
Gordon Jackson QC said there was no basis in the evidence at the trial for finding that Glass had any knowledge of a knife. Lord Brodie, who heard the appeals with Lord Drummond Young and Lord Turnbull, said the court would give its full reasons in writing later.
He said that taking account of the circumstances of the offence and the offender in Davidson’s case they were not satisfied the 24-year term was excessive.
Lord Brodie said that Glass’s prison term had been ‘within the scope of the sentencing judge’s discretion’.
‘Death being treated as unexplained’