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They’ll be out in 6.
one them could be out in 2.5 years. 2.5years for burrying a guy in a shallow grave and leaving his family in distress and the massive cost of the police investigation into the missing person.
I can't find the full details of the sentencing anywhere - have they been on remand? Could one them even be out within months?
A police watchdog is currently looking into Police Scotland's handling of the investigation.
The Police Investigations & Review Commissioner (Pirc) is investigating "allegations of criminality" after a complaint against the police by Mr McKellar's former girlfriend.
She had been due to appear as a key witness in the case but did not turn up to court.
???
What I don’t understand is how scumbag #1’s girlfriend who originally told the police is allowed to not just turn up 3 times on the trot AT A MURDER TRAIL, allowing them to admit to the lesser charge of culpable homicide.
I guess this revelation in the latest news story might go someway to explaining it:
A police watchdog is currently looking into Police Scotland's handling of the investigation.
The Police Investigations & Review Commissioner (Pirc) is investigating "allegations of criminality" after a complaint against the police by Mr McKellar's former girlfriend.
I've no idea what it actually means, but the Crown Office will know the issue and perhaps decided they didn't want her airing it in court, or that she might no longer be a helpful witness even if she was forced to be there.
I can’t find the full details of the sentencing anywhere – have they been on remand? Could one them even be out within months?
Well if they have I don't think we can really grumble that people are given "credit" for time spent on remand. Its not like they have much say in how long they are held on remand for. Google suggests they were remanded on 2nd December 2021. That's so long they may have been released in the interim but I suspect not. You can argue that they could have brought it to a swifter conclusion by pleading guilty quicker - but you've no idea how long ago they made that offer to the crown but the crown wanted to pursue the murder charge.
I thought the driver might have got longer. Interestingly there is a new draft guideline for sentencing road traffic deaths in Scotland - which puts the top end of the offences at 12 years (judges could go longer with a justification). Its hard to rationalise why manslaughter and burying the body is not worse than anything that guideline envisages so the crown may suggest it is unduly lenient. Of course we don't know what mitigation if any the judge took into account and I'm not sure an appeal will succeed because it needs to be so lenient that no judge should have arrived at that sentence taking into account all the factors. The fact that prisoners are released on license midway through their sentence is not something the judge can/should take into account. That is entirely a political decision - if you don't like it complain to your MSPs but bear in mind you are asking to spend over £40K a year on each prisoner and that rehabilitation in prisons is poor. Its not necessarily a bad thing (once you step back and ask what you are trying to achieve with a sentence) but it should not be automatic IMHO.
12 years for the driver. 5 years for the brother
WTAF!???!
Seriously?
The Absolute ****ers killed a man and then went about covering up the incident in a disturbingly calm fashion.
The court heard that the cyclist's injuries were so bad that he would only have survived for 20 or 30 minutes without help.
^^This^^ troubles me the most, to know he was alive but they lacked the basic decency to even try and summon medical help, that pushes it over the line into an outright murder (IMO, I know the law has to take a more objective stance), basically withholding potentially lifesaving assistance, that goes for both brothers whoever was behind the wheel.
That sentence is incredibly weak, where's the deterrent message? let alone a proportional punishment for what amounts to a tortuous death for a man and then leaving his family without any answers for half a decade.... It's total, unmitigated, selfish Bastadry!
Also figures they were in an bloody Isuzu...
@scotroutes - sorry its a DailyMail link https://www.****/news/article-12433659/Complaints-police-handling-probe-death-charity-cyclist-Tony-Parsons-examined-watchdog.html does that shed light or just add more intrigue?
Another shockingly poor sentence, for what may well have been an agonising death and then buring the poor bloke, without telling emergency services.
@poly - I wondered if she had fears regarding her own safety should she appear and testify against the brothers.
<p>The bbc article shows a pic of the isuzu jeep they were driving. Topical.</p>
I wondered if she had fears regarding her own safety should she appear and testify against the brothers.
I saw a report somewhere that she's apparently trying to get compensation from Police Scotland because of the way they used her to go back and "spy" on them to get more evidence.
Can't be easy knowing that the guy you're going out with (engaged to?) is a murdering psychopath and you have to stay with him, pretend it's all fine while reporting back to the police.
And yes, if I were her I'd be terrified of the prospect of some form of revenge from them or their mates for grassing then up. Potentially to the point of wanting an entire new life and identity somewhere a long way away.
What would the sentence be for killing a cyclist by drunk driving while speeding if you then phoned the ambulance/police straight away?
What they did afterwards made it 100x worse, so if the answer to the above is "2 years" then they should have got 200 years.
I just read what happened to the fiance, WTAF is all I can say.
"Then people started spitting at me. I walked into the pub and everyone went silent. The woman told me I was not welcome."
Fancy that, you helped bring somebody that killed an innocent man to justice and hid the body, and the local community instead of supporting you spits in your ****ing face.
Just a wee incidental point. The pair were employed on a shooting estate well known for raptor persecution, their dad had been convicted of having illegal handguns and possessing a banned poison following the death of an eagle on the estate. They put the body in a "stink pit" which is where they put dead animals to create a stink to attract raptors so they can kill them.
had their constant exposure to illegality and killing of animals dehumanised them?
Edit - this may have some link to the behaviour in the post above. These folk see themselves as persecuted and there is a culture of violence and omerta
had their constant exposure to illegality and killing of animals dehumanised them?
Think they were probably just degenerates.
That sentence is incredibly weak, where’s the deterrent message?
If 12years is not a deterrent what is? Its difficult for me to judge that cos leaving someone for dead and burying them are not things I'd consider even if it wasn't a crime, but equally I can't think of any activity i'd do because "its only 12 years" - even if that means I only service 6.
What would the sentence be for killing a cyclist by drunk driving while speeding if you then phoned the ambulance/police straight away?
From a quick skim through the English sentencing guidance - probably 7 years before the discount for pleading guilty. There's no evidence about the actual level of intoxication, a "momentary distraction" mitigation, but the vulnerable road user and previous conviction aggravations. Pleading guilty would reduce that to just over 6 yrs. Looking at the draft Scottish guidance (which is not yet approved) it would be the same sort of range and the aggravations would push it towards the top end.
Interestingly theres no mention of driving ban in the press reports. Had it been prosecuted as death by driving it would have been a 5 yr ban. Manslaughter doesn't have that - but any judge can ban someone from driving if the offence involved the use of a motor vehicle so if there was no driving ban this seems like a missed opportunity to protect the public.
had their constant exposure to illegality and killing of animals dehumanised them?
People with disordered personalities and psychopathic traits are more likely to be attracted to illegality and the killing of animals.