Barmaid killer faces Broadmoor sentence

Shirley Cotton-Betteridge was murdered in Bristol

The family of a young barmaid murdered by a psychopath have condemned a previous court decision to sentence him to just three years for a serious assault.

Shirley Cotton-Betteridge was 22 when she moved to Bristol from Cheltenham in 2001.

She had been left to lock up the Figurehead and Firkin pub on the city's Watershed in the early hours last August when Paul McMilan stabbed her to death.

On Wednesday, Bristol Crown Court heard McMilan was a psychopath who had already served three years for a serious assault on a woman.

McMilan had served time for assault

Prosecuting Counsel Don Tait said: "It was clear from the outset that the crime was committed by a heavily disturbed individual who had a previous conviction for a serious offence in 1999.

"The Crown takes the view therefore that, subject to an automatic life sentence, he will be admitted to Broadmoor Special Hospital."

A number of medical reports all concluded that McMilan had an "abnormal profile" and a "schizoid personality disorder" and there was a "serious risk of McMilan re-offending".

A report from consultant forensic psychiatrist Dr Alan Lillywhite stated that: "This man poses a long-term risk of committing further offences whether in custody, hospital or in the community."

Guilty plea

After the hearing Graham Morgan, Shirley's stepfather, said: "I can't understand a system where they don't realise that he is a danger before he's released to society.

"They just go ahead and release him because he's done his tarriff, but there must be some sort of law where if they realise he's dangerous, they can send him somewhere afterwards.

"He just shouldn't have been released."

Anita Cotton-Betteridge, Shirley's mother, said: "You feel such pain.

"I am trying to protect my other daughters, but you know they're feeling it all the time.

"It's 11 months on and it feels like it was yesterday."

McMilan,21, from Knowle in Bristol, pleaded guilty to manslaughter. The case was adjourned for reports from the special hospital to be compiled.