Law review call after Beggs conviction

Beggs' has been in prison before for violent attacks

A Conservative MSP has called for a legal review in the wake of William Beggs' life sentence for the murder of Kilmarnock teenager Barry Wallace.

Phil Gallie said that the legal process, which allowed Beggs to walk free from a previous murder conviction in England, should be overhauled.

Beggs was convicted of murdering 28-year-old Barry Oldham and trying to dismember his body in 1987 but the verdict was quashed on appeal.

Mr Gallie said that Beggs should have faced a re-trial instead of being allowed to walk free.

Beggs' earlier murder conviction was quashed

At the trial in December 1987, Beggs insisted the killing of Barry Oldham was self-defence.

The Crown applied to try him on a number of wounding charges involving other men alongside the murder charge.

The judge at his trial, at Teesside Crown Court, allowed the application - but two years later, the Court of Appeal said he was wrong to have done so.

This decision set Beggs free and in the years ahead he was involved in several other violent attacks before Friday's conviction for the murder of Barry Wallace.

Phil Gallie told BBC Radio Scotland's Newsweek programme that Beggs' release in 1989 for a similar crime highlighted the need for a legal review.

Phil Gallie: "Public safety"

The Conservative MSP for Central Scotland said: "I am particularly concerned by the actions of the Appeal Court and that time after time they seem to pick up on technicalities as an excuse for overturning verdicts that have been achieved in court with the considerations of jury and trial judge.

"It seems to me that this is a matter we should be examining with some intensity."

He added: "I think it is right that there should be an appeal process but perhaps we should take an example from the (Michael) Stone case down south where in that particular case there was a re-trial.

"Perhaps the Appeal Court should not have the ability to overthrow a verdict that has been achieved in reasonable fashion.

"My argument has always been that the safety of the public must be our goal as far as our justice system goes."