National review into Stacey Hogg murder 'must be a priority'

Stacey Hogg, 35, who was murdered by her violent ex-partner Lee Inglis at her home in Hawick in June

A national review into the murder of Stacey Hogg should be set up as a matter of priority, a MSP has said

Stacey Hogg, 35, a mother-of-three, was murdered at her home in Hawick by her former partner, Lee Inglis, who was on a community-based sentence for assaulting her with a knife at the time he stabbed her to death on June 25 this year.

Inglis admitted to her murder at the High Court in Edinburgh earlier this month, with the court hearing that he killed Ms Hogg after learning she was in a new relationship.

The murder of Ms Hogg has been referred to the Scottish Government’s new Domestic Homicide and Suicide Review, which has been in place since April.

The multi-agency review framework, which was legislated for last November, seeks to learn lessons following a death where abuse is known or suspected.

READ MORE: Stacey Hogg murder must force ‘hard look’ at punishment of domestic abusers

Pauline McNeill MSP, shadow justice secretary for Scottish Labour, who has worked for stronger legislation and reform to protect women and girls from violence, said there was “clear interest” to understand the circumstances that led to her death.

“Hopefully we have got the mechanisms in place to look at the Stacey Hogg case. There is obviously clear interest to understand, in any case when a woman has been murdered, but I think when this case is so in the minds of everyone, we need to know what we can learn from this so we can use this parliament to make changes.

“It was a very important piece of legislation and it probably should be a priority for them now to get it set in place.”

Scottish Labour’s shadow justice secretary Pauline McNeill

Cases are first referred to the Review Oversight Committee, which is independent of Scottish Ministers and which will decide whether a full review should be held.

READ MORE: ‘Immediate change’ required to tackle violence against women and girls

The Scottish Government said it could not comment on individual cases given strict confidentiality surrounding the process.

Information on the number of notifications and referrals will be made publicly available in parliament on a two-yearly basis, with a summary of each completed review to be published on the Scottish Government website.

Dr Marsha Scott, chief executive of Scottish Women’s Aid, said she was “very positive” about the new review model, which has been in the making since 2022.

She said: “It is about learning about the way the systems are operating so that we can see where the problems are. We have set it up in a way that has learned an awful lot from less successful processes elsewhere in the UK.

“So I think there is a lot of potential in that process and it will deliver public findings. And it isn’t about blame and that is one of the problems with the system.

“It is really designed for learning and accountability. I am very positive about it and the design of the model and it is going to be effective.”

Dr Marsha Scott, chief executive of Scottish Women's Aid | Contributed

Ms Hogg separated from Inglis in November 2024 after he assaulted her with a knife the previous month, for which he was later convicted and handed a community payback order and restriction of liberty order which was still in place at the time of the murder.

The High Court in Edinburgh heard Inglis also had two convictions from December 2021 which related to Ms Hogg, as well as other convictions for assaults.

The monitoring of Inglis by community justice social work will form part of any review.

A statement from Scottish Borders Council said: “The case has been referred to Scotland's Domestic Homicide and Suicide Review framework. This independent, multi-agency process will consider the involvement of relevant agencies, identify learning, and make recommendations where appropriate. It is anticipated that the national review will provide the appropriate mechanism for considering agency involvement and learning.

“As the case is now subject to that review process, it would not be appropriate for Scottish Borders Council to comment further at this stage. The Council will cooperate fully with the review.

“Our thoughts remain with Stacey Hogg's family and friends."