Thugs on soft justice scheme given day off...to commit murder
Fury at SNP policy as pair get 20 years
TWO thugs kicked a man to death after being sent home from their community payback orders.
Stephen O’Donnell and Robert Muir, both 30, decided to go drinking after they were sent away.
But later that day the pair launched a sustained and brutal attack on George Calvert – punching and kicking him and stamping on his head.
An opposition MSP yesterday condemned the situation, describing it as another example of the SNP’s ‘soft touch justice system’.
Mr Calvert, who was a father of one, died from a massive brain injury hours after the brutal attack.
The 48-year-old was found to have suffered 63 injuries, 26 of them to his head and neck.
Some of the attack took place inside Mr Calvert’s flat after the pair ambushed him as he returned home.
The two callous killers left him dying on the landing outside his flat in Paisley, Renfrewshire, on March 19, 2019. At the High Court in Glasgow yesterday, judge Lady Rae jailed the pair for life and ordered each to serve 20 years in prison before they are eligible to apply for parole.
She said: ‘You were both found guilty by a jury of what can only be described as a brutal and savage attack on a man in his own home.
‘He suffered multiple injuries to his head and body caused by you two kicking, punching and stamping on him.
‘I detect little or no remorse. You, O’Donnell, tried to minimise your involvement and Muir, you said you have no memory of events.’
At the time of the murder, both men were on community payback orders – O’Donnell for drink driving and driving while disqualified and Muir for an assault with a bottle.
Prosecutor Graeme Jessop said: ‘They both had appointments for the community payback orders that morning, but were sent away.’
The court heard that both men then headed to O’Donnell’s flat, where they sat drinking.
O’Donnell, who was in a relationship with 19-year-old Kirsteen Templeton, feared Mr Calvert would tell her jealous ex-boyfriend about them.
Before heading to Mr Calvert’s flat, which was in the same block, O’Donnell told Muir about his concerns.
He replied: ‘He’ll no be saying f*** all to any c***. Don’t worry. I’ll back you 110 per cent.’
The sound of the horrific beating and Mr Calvert whimpering was heard by people in neighbouring flats.
O’Donnell told police that he had arrived home and found the street ‘like a CSI parking lot’.
But the pair were brought to justice because their clothes and shoes were covered in droplets of Mr Calvert’s blood. Also, a handprint of Muir’s in the victim’s blood was found on a wall close to where the victim was lying.
Mr Jessop told the court: ‘This was a concerted attack, a vicious attack and a sustained attack on a man who was ambushed at his front door as he came back home. It was unprovoked.’
Both men offered guilty pleas to the lesser charge of culpable homicide, but these were rejected and they were convicted of murder last month.
Defence counsel Tony Graham, QC, representing
O’Donnell, said: ‘It was never the intention to do more than an assault or a breach of the peace, but it escalated.’
Thomas Ross, QC, for Muir, said: ‘He doesn’t remember anything about the offence due to intoxication.’
Last night, Scottish Tory justice spokesman Liam Kerr said: ‘Instead of repaying part of their considerable debt to society, these men were given a free afternoon to drink. They were so drunk that it was used as a potential defence in court.
‘Victims and their families expect dangerous criminals to be kept under close watch, if they aren’t in custody.
‘But that is far from the truth in the SNP’s soft touch justice system.’
‘I detect little or no remorse’