John Robertson: Battle for worst killers to be given longer sentences

THE "light" sentences handed down to many of Scotland's murderers, certainly compared with those imposed south of the Border, had caused disquiet for many years, and peaked when the Lockerbie bomber, Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, was told he would serve at least 27 years under a life term.

The Lord Advocate of the day, Colin Boyd, QC, saw Megrahi's sentence as "unduly lenient" and announced he would appeal against it. However, the Crown's sentence appeal was put on the back burner while Megrahi pursued his appeal against his conviction and, as things turned out, neither was determined before the cancer-stricken Megrahi was allowed home to Libya on compassionate grounds.

The current Lord Advocate, Elish Angiolini, QC, did not let the sentencing issue rest, and used two cases to fight for a harsher regime. Last November, a bench of five judges in the Court of Criminal Appeal, led by the country's most senior judge, Lord Hamilton, the Lord Justice-General, heeded her call, and increased the sentences on three men in specific cases from 15, 15 and 12 years to 20, 19 and 18 years.

The judges said that a widely used starting point of 12 years, and a top level of 30 years, had been too low. The law requires a "punishment part" – the minimum to be served under a life sentence before the person can be considered for parole – to be set in a specified number of years, but the ruling effectively paved the way for "life to mean life" in the worst cases.

It was also laid down that murders involving knives and other sharp weapons should attract punishment parts of at least 16 years, and 20 years would generally be given for the murder of a child or a police officer, or a murder involving a firearm.

At the same time, the level of discount allowed in murder cases for pleading guilty was reduced from one-third to one-sixth.

"The judgment was really a double whammy … you get more for the crime and less of a discount," said Paul McBride, QC, adviser to the Conservative Party on justice, law and order.

"(Blackburn] was comparatively young with no great criminal record. I think under the previous system he would have been looking at a punishment part of 16 to 18 years after trial. The judge has selected 21 years, so he has got possibly five years more in prison than he would have got before the Lord Advocate's case," said Mr McBride. "Punishment parts in the twenties used to be reserved for a shooting … contract killings and that kind of stuff."

In December 2008, the Lord Advocate had called for heavier sentences to be available to judges in murder cases, with "life to mean life" for the worst killers. Her statement was welcomed by MSPs, but criticised by Donald Findlay, QC, a leading defence lawyer, who accused the Lord Advocate of political interference in the sentencing process.