‘Depraved’ killer is told he can’t appeal

A STALKER who murdered the boyfriend of his former lover and tried to kill her in a savage attack has seen a bid to overturn his conviction thrown out.

Frank Moore lodged appeals against both his conviction and the 22-year sentence he received for the brutal killing of chef Stewart Taylor.

But his leave to appeal was rejected by the Appeal Court in Edinburgh, a move welcomed today by the father of Moore’s ex-partner, Lynsey Methven, who suffered horrific injuries during the incident in the Grange on February 7 last year.

John Methven, 69, who lives in Prestonfield, said: “Moore was lucky not to get a longer sentence than he did. We’re 100 per cent confident in the conviction the jury returned, and that the judge gave the sentence he was able to.

“Everyone did their job in this case – the police, the courts, the judge – and now we have to leave it in the hands of the prison service.

“Our family don’t even think about Frank Moore. It’s in the past and now that these appeals have been refused we don’t want to think about him again. He’s not worth thinking about. We’re getting on with our lives.”

Ms Methven spent two days in intensive care at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary after being attacked, before waking to tell a nurse: “It was Frank” or “It must have been Frank”.

She had lost the sight in her left eye and was deaf in one ear having suffered a fractured skull, and was left unable to walk unaided.

Mr Methven said: “Lynsey is getting better all the time. From being left unconscious to where Lynsey is now has been a big improvement. She still forgets things sometimes but that’s to be expected. She just wants to put it behind her as well.”

Moore was jailed for 22 years in October after carrying out what judge Lord Pentland described as a “depraved and brutal” crime.

A trial heard how 43-year-old builder Moore attacked the couple after a campaign of harassment that lasted for weeks.

The couple were found, partially clothed, after firefighters forced their way through choking smoke at Ms Methven’s home in Chalmers Crescent. Dying Mr Taylor, 33, from Aberdeen, who was head chef at the Maison Bleue restaurant in Victoria Street, suffered a heart attack after being pulled from the ground-floor flat.

He had also suffered a massive skull fracture after being bludgeoned and beaten.

Moore had denied murder and attempted murder.

Detectives investigating the case said that Moore had committed “monstrous crimes”, and was a danger to any woman he was in a relationship with.

An Appeal Court spokesman confirmed that Moore’s leave to appeal was not granted. The spokesman added that Moore would still be able to lodge an application with the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission, requesting it examines his case which could then be passed back to appeal judges.