The Scottish government has welcomed a court ruling that paves the way for killers to spend the rest of their lives behind bars.

The SNP administration praised the decision of five judges at the court of appeal to increase prison terms for murder in Scotland, effectively ensuring that life will mean life in the worst cases.

A Scottish government spokesman said: “We welcome the decision of the Appeal Court to update its guidance on the setting of punishment parts in murder cases.

“Our Criminal Justice and Licensing Bill, stage one of which is being debated today, takes forward our commitment to establish a Scottish Sentencing Council which will have the power to develop sentencing guidelines to help improve consistency, transparency and public confidence in sentencing.”

The senior judges, including Scotland’s most senior judge, Lord Hamilton, ruled that knife murderers should spend at least 16 years behind bars. They also said that child murderers, police killers and people convicted of firearms murders should not be freed for at least 20 years and terms of more than 30 years could also be handed out in cases that included mass murder by terrorists.

Currently murderers are given mandatory life sentences but punishment parts have to be specified by judges.

The new guidance was issued after the judges decided on the minimum time that three men sentenced for murder should serve before being considered for parole.

The Lord Advocate had appealed against the length of the men’s terms on the grounds they were “unduly lenient” and asked the Court of Appeal in Edinburgh to issue guidance on sentences for murder.

The three minimum terms being considered included Brian Boyle and Greig Maddock, who were convicted of the murder of Robert Bowie, who was kicked, stabbed in the leg, then set on fire on October 14, 2006, in Dunfermline. He died five days later in hospital.

Boyle assaulted and stabbed Mr Bowie in the leg and was then joined by Maddock.

They placed Mr Bowie on a pyre of magazines, poured lighter fluid on him and set him alight while he was still alive.

Boyle had the punishment part of his sentence increased from 15 years to 20 years. Maddock’s sentenced increased from 12 years to 18 years. Both men were convicted in June 2007.

The third appeal involved Robert Kelly who pleaded guilty to the murder of 64-year-old Agnes Mechen in Glasgow on August 30, 2002.

Kelly was jailed in July 2007 after he admitted assaulting Mrs Mechen, placing a cord around her neck, tightening it and robbing her of a handbag, which contained between £180 and £200.

He concealed the body under a mound of soil or rubble.

Kelly’s minimum term was increased from 15 years to 19 years.

Source : The Times

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