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Anger over knife murder sentence | Anger over knife murder sentence |
(about 1 hour later) | |
People who carry knives should be taken to a morgue to be shown what their weapons can do, according to the father of a West Lothian murder victim. | People who carry knives should be taken to a morgue to be shown what their weapons can do, according to the father of a West Lothian murder victim. |
Bill Jenkins spoke out after two men were jailed for life for the unprovoked attack on his son, John Jenkins. | Bill Jenkins spoke out after two men were jailed for life for the unprovoked attack on his son, John Jenkins. |
Mr Jenkins, 27, was attacked as he walked to work in Livingston last year. | Mr Jenkins, 27, was attacked as he walked to work in Livingston last year. |
His killers were given minimum jail terms of 10 and 15 years at the High Court in Edinburgh - a sentence branded a "joke" by the victim's family. | His killers were given minimum jail terms of 10 and 15 years at the High Court in Edinburgh - a sentence branded a "joke" by the victim's family. |
John Edgar, 24, and his cousin David McCaig, 18, were high on alcohol and returning from a funeral when they attacked the 27-year-old chef who was on his way to work. | |
Edgar of Scotstoun, Glasgow, was told he must serve 15 years before he can apply for parole and McCaig of Livingston, was locked up for at least 10 years | |
The High Court in Edinburgh heard Mr Jenkins had been in the wrong place at the wrong time. | |
John Jenkins was attacked in December 2007 in Livingston | |
The judge, Lord Craik, said they were both responsible for the brutal and gratuitous death of an innocent young man. | The judge, Lord Craik, said they were both responsible for the brutal and gratuitous death of an innocent young man. |
However, the Jenkins family dismissed the minimum sentences as "a joke". | However, the Jenkins family dismissed the minimum sentences as "a joke". |
"I don't think justice was served in here today," said Mr Jenkins, 54. | "I don't think justice was served in here today," said Mr Jenkins, 54. |
"I don't think any of Gordon Brown's ideas are going to do anything. To me, you should get the same sentence for carrying a knife as carrying a gun." | "I don't think any of Gordon Brown's ideas are going to do anything. To me, you should get the same sentence for carrying a knife as carrying a gun." |
He said taking offenders to visit victims in hospitals would just put staff there under more pressure. | |
"I believe in taking them to the morgue and showing them what they have done," added Mr Jenkins. | "I believe in taking them to the morgue and showing them what they have done," added Mr Jenkins. |
Describing how he had to identify his son's body, he said: "It is the hardest thing I have ever had to do in my life." | |
The family said they had never known him even raise his voice to anyone. | The family said they had never known him even raise his voice to anyone. |
The victim's twin sister, Mary, 27, said her brother was "a gentleman". | |
"He would give you the last £1 in his pocket or the shirt off his back," she said. | |
'Play-fighting' | |
The trial heard that four of the nine serious stab wounds were potentially fatal and McCaig kicked and punched the dying man. | |
The attackers then walked away shouting and "play-fighting" with each other before throwing the knife down a drain. | |
Mr Jenkins' sister, Janet, 33, told how her brother often visited to play football with her son and other kids in the street. | |
He left her Livingston home on 1 December last year but took a different route that Saturday morning because he needed to buy lighter fuel for his work at a nearby shop. | |
The store's CCTV showed John Jenkins there at 0830 BST and 11 minutes later a paramedic was pronouncing him dead at the Loan Path in the Ladywell district of the West Lothian town. | |
Advocate depute Simon Collins, prosecuting, said there had been no time for an argument to develop. | |
"There seems to have been no motive other than the desire by the attackers to inflict extreme violence on another human being," he told the jury. |
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