Grieving mother hits out at sentence for son’s killers

A MOTHER today said that two men who were jailed for eight years for killing her son and dumping his semi-naked body in a lift should have been given longer sentences.

John Carter was dragged out of a flat in Salamander Court wearing a handcuff on his left wrist by Simon Brown and Paul Banks, who had viciously attacked him.

The pair were charged with murdering the 44-year-old, whose body was found in the block of flats in Leith in February last year, but pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of culpable homicide.

Mr Carter’s grieving mother, Flora Carter, said she was “disappointed” with the sentences handed to Brown and Banks at the High Court in Glasgow yesterday. The pensioner said: “I think they should’ve got longer than that. I think they should’ve been done for murder. I’ll never get over what happened to John. Eight years is not enough.”

Mrs Carter, who lives in Wick, said she was not well enough to attend court to see the men who killed her son sentenced. She added that her family had been left “devastated” by their loss.