Judicial review petition for reconsideration of possible release for convicted knife killer is granted

A prisoner who was charged in 1996 after killing a young man in Renfrew with a knife has successfully petitioned for a judicial review of a Parole Board for Scotland's decision to deny him release on parole.

DD, the petitioner, was 16 years old when he was found guilty and received an imprisonment without parole term that included 10 years on his sentence. He requested that a separate tribunal review his case because the initial ruling was both unfair and illegal.

The petitioner was found guilty of murdering a young man who was previously unknown to him by repeatedly stabbing him with a carving knife. The petitioner was previously subject to a Home Supervision Order by the Children's Panel before being sentenced for the murder he committed. He was also found guilty of assaulting and robbing a shopkeeper by brandishing a butcher cleaver and demanding money from him.

Following his conviction, the petitioner was initially imprisoned in a Young Offender Institution, where he endured bullying and violence. When he was moved to prison, he was subjected to more assaults, although since his murder conviction, he had not engaged in any more violent behaviour. The petitioner had been diagnosed with multiple mental health issues such as general anxiety disorder including situational anxiety and ruminative worry, and possibly complex PTSD.

The lawyer for the petitioner argued that the Tribunal would need to be convinced that the petitioner's release would constitute a significant risk of serious violence that would endanger the public in order to justify his continued imprisonment after the end of the punishment component of his sentence. His youth at the time of the first offence and the fact that he posed a greater risk to himself than to the public were not given enough consideration in the Tribunal's ruling.

It was recommended the petitioner's application be reconsidered by a differently constituted Tribunal within a reasonable time.