Limbs-in-the-loch killer seeks compensation over appeal delay

LIMBS-IN-THE-LOCH killer William Beggs is demanding a reduction in his jail sentence and compensation for alleged breaches of his human rights.

Beggs has an appeal in Scotland to try to win a cut in the minimum 20 years he was ordered to serve in prison for murdering and dismembering teenager Barry Wallace.

He also has an application before the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, seeking damages of up to €16,000 (about 14,000) for being subjected, he alleges, to unreasonable delay in the appeal process. Yesterday, at a preliminary hearing in the Court of Criminal Appeal in Edinburgh, it was agreed that a full day should be set aside for the case, on a date yet to be fixed.

The Strasbourg application has been put on ice, pending a ruling in Scotland. Beggs, 47, fled to the Netherlands after the murder of Mr Wallace, 18, in Kilmarnock in December 1999 and had to be extradited to stand trial. He was convicted in 2001 and jailed for life.