Three men jailed for killing fellow inmate

● Glasgow judge adds at least six years to prisoners’ current sentences

Three men were sentenced to at least six years in jail yesterday for killing a fellow prisoner.

Darren Brownlie died at HMP Low Moss on the outskirts of Bishopbriggs, East Dunbartonshire, on 6 January this year.

At the High Court in Glasgow yesterday, his fellow inmates David Till, 33, and Brian Laing, 27, from the city; and 31-yearold Craig Derrick from Perth and Kinross, had years added to their current sentences.

Lord Matthews sentenced Laing and Till to six years and nine months each while Derrick was sentenced to six years. The trio had been accused of murdering Brownlie but their guilty pleas to the reduced charge of culpable homicide were accepted at an earlier hearing.

The 47-year-old had been remanded in custody as he faced trial for allegedly trying to abduct a six-year-old boy in Bearsden, Glasgow.

Aamer Anwar, solicitor on behalf of Brownlie’s mother Helen and brother Robert, said the death was “entirely preventable”.

He added: “Darren died from internal bleeding caused by a ruptured spleen and he also had broken ribs, all as a result of a cowardly attack by three men.

“No sentence will bring back

Darren but there has not been any true accountability for what took place on January 6 this year.

“Darren’s mother Helen has been left heartbroken to discover the inhumane and barbaric treatment of her son in his dying hours.”

Previously the court heard an ambulance for Brownlie was requested at around 5:30pm but he was not treated by paramedics until for almost five hours.

That hearing was also told

Brownlie “would have in all probability” survived if he had been given “timeous” treatment for blood loss prior to being taken to hospital, according to an accident and emergency consultant.

Mr Anwar has now written to the Lord Advocate requesting that an investigation into the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (NHSGGC) and the Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS).

The lawyer also contacted Scottish Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf and Health Secretary Jeane Freeman asking them to meet the Brownlie family.

He said: “For the SPS or the NHS to avoid any form of responsibility or scrutiny, with reliance on an FAI three to four years down the line is simply not acceptable - such delay puts the lives of other prisoners at risk.

“Darren’s family are horrified at the total contempt and lack of compassion shown to them by the SPS who failed to contact them in nearly seven months following his death.”

“For the SPS or the NHS to avoid any form of responsibility or scrutiny, with reliance on an FAI three to four years down the line is simply not acceptable”