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Murder in a Small Town


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Think I saw the same program this last year, whilst it did seem a bit biased how on earth they managed to convict him with such little evidence is mental. Having also read the secret barrister of late it really is scary how easily you can be wrongfully convicted with very little way of getting to an appeal.

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8 hours ago, DiegoDiego said:
9 hours ago, SlipperyP said:
Let's just say locking up folk that listen to Marlyn Manson is no bad thing, I'm sure if we locked them all up, we would find a few bad ones in the net!

Probably get a better hit rate rounding up folk who try to emigrate to South East Asia.

Is there a creepier sight than the hordes of middle aged, balding white men in SE Asia preying on younger local women? Hard to say.

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17 hours ago, 54_and_counting said:

Given the media frenzy and how they immediately portrayed him as the killer from the first minute, mitchell had absolutely no chance of a neutral, unbiased jury for his trial

Wether he did it or not it will never be known 100% probably, but lets not kid ourselves that when the jury was selected they didn't already have an opinion on him

Yep, as soon as he was officially charged with the murder 10 or so months later, he was getting a 20 stretch.

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On 31/08/2022 at 12:40, Detournement said:

Did he not burn a load of his clothes? The jury being shown Marilyn Manson videos was something which should never have been allowed but the Scottish legal system pretty much makes it up as it goes along. 

Another murder which got a conviction with no evidence was that of the Celtic Youth player Lawrence Haggart. A local paedo was convicted despite there being no evidence linking him to it and prior to that Central Scotland Police tried to frame the victims 12 year old brother. It's an utterly bizarre case and would be ideal for one of those true crime podcasts.

https://casefilepodcast.com/case-162-lawrence-haggart/

 

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I think the guy who was convicted had a history of entering homes to sexually assault and rape boys. He also had a history of setting fires.

None of which means he did it but I remember reading this and thinking the cops have decided it’s him and made it fit. I don’t remember anything else about the case though.

Edited by ICTChris
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5 minutes ago, ICTChris said:

I think the guy who was convicted had a history of entering homes to sexually assault and rape boys. He also had a history of setting fires.

None of which means he did it but I remember reading this and thinking the cops have decided it’s him and made it fit. I don’t remember anything else about the case though.

It's very strange.

Lawrence was contacted by telephone at home that day by Celtic kitman Jim McCafferty who has admitted being a child abuser during his whole career and is alleged to have links to Barry Bennel. 

As well as his fatal injuries and burns LH also had the numbers '110' cut into his back and written on his wrist in ink. 

The police officer investigating Jim Winning immediately tried to blame LH's younger brother and ignored other suspects. He was taken off the case and retired in his late 40s due to ill health which meant he was able to avoid any action relating to his misconduct. An investigation by Tayside police which was later released under FoI said his conduct was potentially criminal. 

Days after the murder a hammer was found in the property which was suggested to be the murder weapon. 9 other officers maintained that the hammer was not in the house during earlier searches. 

Brian Beattie was questioned soon after the murder and gave a fake alibi which wasn't followed up on. As Chris said he had previously been convicted of breaking into houses and sexually assualting children including the son of a former Scotland international but somehow only served 8 months in  prison for this. 

And just for some extra strangeness the murder took place 3 days after the Dublane massacre and 10 miles away from where Thomas Hamilton lived. 

 

 

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33 minutes ago, Detournement said:

 

Brian Beattie was questioned soon after the murder and gave a fake alibi which wasn't followed up on. As Chris said he had previously been convicted of breaking into houses and sexually assualting children including the son of a former Scotland international but somehow only served 8 months in  prison for this. 

 

 

 

I don't think there's anything unusual about that, the sentences given for sexual crimes in years gone by were extraordinarily leniant.  Fred and Rose West were convicted of indecent assault and fined £50 in the 1970s.

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