Killer Beggs in prison protest

Beggs was jailed for life for murdering Barry Wallace

Limbs in the loch killer William Beggs is staging a prison protest in a bid to be moved to a different cell.

The 38-year-old, who murdered teenager Barry Wallace and dismembered his body, is refusing food at Saughton jail, in Edinburgh.

Beggs, from Kilmarnock, in Ayrshire, is believed to be demanding a transfer to an area of the prison inhabited by "drug-free" inmates.

He was jailed for life six weeks ago after being found guilty of the 1999 murder.

Barry Wallace's body was dismembered

The severed limbs of Mr Wallace, who disappeared after a Christmas night out, were later recovered from Loch Lomond by police divers, while his head was washed up on Barassie Beach, near Troon, in Ayrshire.

Beggs had picked up the 18-year-old in Kilmarnock, took him back to his flat and sexually assaulted him before murdering him.

Trial judge Lord Osborne said Beggs, originally from Moira in Northern Ireland, should serve a minimum of 20 years behind bars.

Appeal bid

A spokeswoman for the Scottish Prison Service said: "We are unable to comment on the circumstances of individual prisoners."

Beggs' lawyers have lodged a notice of intent to appeal against his conviction and sentence.

He was convicted of a similar murder in 1987 at Teesside Crown Court after killing and mutilating Barry Oldham, 28.

However, he was later freed by Appeal Court judges on a technicality and went on to attack another man in Kilmarnock, which led to a six-year sentence.