Two found guilty of first murder in Western Isles for 40 years

http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2013/jun/03/two-guilty-western-isles-murder

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Two men have been found guilty of the first confirmed murder in the Western Isles for more than 40 years

Johnathan MacKinnon and Stefan Millar, both 22, were convicted of killing homeless teenager Liam Aitchison, 16, whose body was found in a disused building in Stornoway, Isle of Lewis, partially clothed with 20 stab wounds. They were convicted after a three-week trial at the high court in Glasgow.

The two men, both of whom denied involvement in his death, killed Aitchison amid a furious row during a drinking session at Millar's house in Plasterfield on the outskirts of Stornoway in November 2011.

As the two men were found guilty, there were shouts of "yes" and "pair of monsters" from Aitchison's family.

Aitchison, who had briefly been a member of the Scottish youth parliament, and came from South Uist, had been drifting between flats and friends houses in Stornoway for several months, borrowing off friends and shoplifting, before he disappeared.

Millar, who took the witness stand to insist he was innocent, was convicted partly after the court heard he had boasted about the murder to a cellmate at Porterfield prison in Inverness while on remand.

His fellow remand prisoner, Dominic Long, 17, told the court Millar had bragged about the killing. Long had at first been reluctant to give evidence until Iain McSporran, the prosecutor, showed him a photograph of Aitchison's body.

Long said that Millar "told me he killed him" and that "they had taken him to an abandoned place and killed him". MacKinnon – who had a violent temper, carried a knife and was known to have cut himself earlier with a meat clever he had stolen from a trawler he worked on – did not give evidence.

The prosecution case suggested the three men got into a violent row after Aitchison stole a bottle of MacKinnon's aftershave, abefore killing him with a bottle and a knife after leaving Millar's home late on 22 November.

No murder weapons were found. There was no forensic evidence directly tying either man to what was a violent death, despite an extensive police search of Millar's home, which included opening up drains in the street, and of the derelict building where Aitchison's body was found at Steinish, close to Stornoway airport's runway.

Millar's defence lawyer, Frances McMenamin QC said that without Long's evidence, which was a "piece of made up exaggeration", there would be no case against her client.

Summing up, she told the jury: "The crown would have you believe that Stefan Millar chose a then 16-year-old – a total stranger with such obvious and serious problems – and, having earlier maintained his innocence, confesses to Dominic Long."

While there have been one or two unsolved deaths in the Western Isles, which generally has a very low crime rate, the last confirmed murder involved the killing of Mary Mackenzie, an 80-year-old crofter, in 1968.

Aitchison's father, Norrie, said: "The last 18 months have been unbearable and we have never been able to properly grieve for our beloved crazy diamond."

Aitchison added: "He fought to defend himself but he didn't stand a chance against the violence he came against that night.

"He was left stripped of his clothes with 20 stab wounds, no family should have to endure what we have."