Born in prison to heroin addict mother – now he's sentenced to return there

Published on Tuesday 6 January 2009 20:49

A TEENAGER who was born in prison was yesterday ordered to be locked up for 11 years for stabbing a youth to death in a street fight.

Ross Anderson, whose mother was in jail at the time of his birth, was only 16 and on bail when he stabbed Adam Paton, 17, to death in Montrose, Angus.

A court was told that Anderson had been assessed as a continuing danger to the public, and the judge, Lord Carloway, ordered he be kept under supervision for a further four years at the end of his time in custody.

Lord Carloway said it was hard to imagine "a more deprived and tragic start to life" than Anderson's, but added that the youth had spurned the attempts of adoptive parents to provide him with a better future.

He was one of a handful of children each year who are born to a drug-addicted prisoner in Cornton Vale – Scotland's dedicated jail for women.

Anderson spent the first few months of his life in the jail and was taken into foster care as his abusive father had died in police custody.

Sentencing Anderson at the High Court in Edinburgh, Lord Carloway said: "I accept the very early years of your life, prior to your adoption, were emotionally traumatic, having been born in Cornton Vale prison to a mother then addicted to heroin and a father who had died in police custody.

"He had apparently been physically abusive to you, even though you must have been little more than a baby. It is hard to imagine a more deprived and tragic start to life.

"However, it is equally clear that your adoptive parents tried very hard to compensate for that early start by providing you with a comfortable lifestyle and the potential for a good education and future life.

"Whatever the psychological reasons for it, you spurned their attempts to help you and engaged in a life of substance, drug and alcohol abuse and, ultimately, crime."

Anderson, now 17, was accused of murdering Mr Paton, who was weeks away from his 18th birthday, in North Street, Montrose, on 24 April last year. A jury convicted him of the lesser offence of culpable homicide.

The trial heard that a row between the pair, who had both been drinking, broke out in a flat and spilled into the street. Mr Paton died from repeated blows with a knife which penetrated his heart and liver.

Lord Carloway added: "The jury have acquitted you of murder – no doubt they had in mind that there was provocation from Mr Paton in the form of challenging behaviour culminating in his punching you in the street soon after you left the flat.

"The court cannot but regard this culpable homicide as a particularly serious one," he said, adding that reports indicated Anderson was a "continuing danger" to the public.

Anderson had been given bail in August 2007, on a charge of assaulting and robbing a woman of cash and a mobile phone, and again only two weeks before the killing, for breach of the peace and vandalism. The defence QC, Ian Duguid, said Anderson was disgusted with himself over the attack, describing him as a "vulnerable individual".

John Scott, chairman of the Howard League for Penal Reform Scotland, said the case highlighted the link between crime and early years.

He said: "It's a good example of how the system can fail children who encounter the criminal life at an early age."

Referring to the circumstances of Anderson's birth, he said: "There is an element of cursing the boy at the moment of his birth."

The Violence Reduction Unit and the Scottish Government have already identified ending the cycle of crime between generations as key to reducing offending, pledging more early years support for parents and infants with difficult backgrounds.

FACT BOX

THE number of children who spend their first months in prison in Scotland has doubled in the past five years.

Six babies were born to prisoners at Cornton Vale in 2007, compared with three in 2004. In the past five years, 24 babies have been born into the prison environment.

The babies are actually born in hospital at Stirling, but then spend up to 18 months with their mother at a specialist unit in the prison. If their mother is on a long-term sentence, the baby will automatically be taken and placed in care or with family members.

Mothers who test positive for drugs have their child removed immediately. More often than not, being placed in care is regarded as the best option for the child.

The rising number of children in this situation reflects the rising population at Cornton Vale – peaking at 415 women last year, compared with 273 in 2002.

Experts say the impact on children and parents is unacceptable. Prison reformers have demanded that women should be locked up only in extreme circumstances, saying keeping mothers and young babies in prison can harm young children and fuel crime.