Convicted murderer William Beggs' appeal bid halted

LIMBS in the loch killer William Beggs was today refused the opportunity to appeal his case to the UK's Supreme Court.

Three senior judges at the Appeal Court in Edinburgh refused his application less than three months after he failed in a bid to have his conviction for murdering and dismembering teenager Barry Wallace overturned.

Beggs was convicted in 2001 of killing the 18-year-old in Kilmarnock, Ayrshire. The victim's limbs and torso were recovered from Loch Lomond while his head was found washed up on a beach near Troon.

The 46-year-old was jailed for life and ordered to spend at least 20 years behind bars.

A full appeal against his conviction got under way last September, in which he claimed that the trial which saw him convicted of the December 1999 murder was unfair and that he was a victim of a miscarriage of justice.

He claimed he was denied a fair hearing because of "prejudicial" publicity before and during the high-profile case.

But Appeal Court judges in Edinburgh rejected his appeal in March, following a legal fight spanning nine years.

The decision was described by prosecutors as marking the end of a long chapter in Beggs' fight to escape justice.

He then sought leave to appeal to the Supreme Court and put forward four grounds of appeal to back up his case.

But in a decision issued today by Lord Eassie, Lady Paton and Lord Bannatyne, the judges ruled: "We have come to the conclusion that this application for permission to appeal to the Supreme Court should be refused."

Supermarket worker Mr Wallace vanished on December 5 1999 after a Christmas night-out with colleagues in his home town of Kilmarnock. He was last seen in the town centre.

A jury found Beggs took the teenager to his flat and subjected him to a serious sexual assault. He then murdered him and cut up his body.

The killer dumped the limbs and torso in Loch Lomond and the head in the sea off the Ayrshire coast.

Shortly after the crime, Beggs, originally from Northern Ireland, fled abroad to the Netherlands.

After lengthy extradition proceedings, he was ordered in January 2001 to be returned to Scotland to face trial. He was jailed for life after being found guilty of murder at the High Court in Edinburgh in October 2001.