'Muggers alley' killer has life sentence cut

Published on Thursday 4 June 2009 19:47

A MAN who helped lure a youth to his death in a "muggers' alley" had a life sentence reduced to nine years yesterday.

John Hopkinson, 33, of Gallowgate, Glasgow, and his girlfriend Amy Stewart, 25, of Sighthill, Glasgow, had both been found guilty of stabbing and murdering Allan Lennox, 21, in 2003 and were ordered to serve at least 12 years before they could apply for parole.

However, the Court of Criminal Appeal in Edinburgh reduced Hopkinson's conviction to culpable homicide, and imposed a nine-year sentence, opening up the possibility of an imminent release.

Mr Lennox, of Glasgow, an electrician and former apprentice of the year at Cardonald College, had been going home from a night out when Stewart and Hopkinson lured him into the alley in the Calton area of the city.

He was robbed of his wages, and Stewart stabbed him in the thigh, cutting a major artery. The pair left to buy heroin, leaving Mr Lennox to bleed to death.