A ROBBER serving a life sentence for the ''cruel and sadistic'' murder of a shop manager had his hopes of immediate freedom dashed by a judge yesterday.
Ryan Monks, 34, was one of the latest batch of murderers serving mandatory life sentences sent back to the high court after Scots law was changed to ensure that it complies with the European Convention on Human Rights.
Monks had been told by the parole board he would be released on licence in January this year after serving 12 years of his sentence, but he will now have to serve 14 years before the board can look at his case again.
Under the 2001 Convention Rights (Compliance) (Scotland) Act, the length of time a person sentenced to life for murder must serve as a punishment period, covering retribution and deterrence, is specified by the trial judge in open court. Only when that period has expired is a decision made on whether the prisoner should be released and that is the responsibility of the parole board which must take the protection of the public into account.
Existing mandatory life prisoners are going through a series of hearings before high court judges to have the punishment part of their sentences decided and some have already served much longer than the period set down by the judge.
That does not necessarily mean that they are likely to be released in the near future since most have already had repeated parole board applications turned down on public safety grounds.
The change in the law, which came into effect in October last year, also means government ministers no longer have the ultimate say in deciding how long a life prisoner should serve before being eligible for parole or when the release should take place.
Monks and accomplice Paul Mill plotted a raid on a Dundee post office in May 1989 and decided they would need weapons to stage the robbery.
They attacked Gordon Johnston in his gun shop in Union Street, Dundee, kicking and punching him before throwing him down a flight of stairs and battering him to death with an axe or iron bar. They then ran off with guns and ammunition and (pounds) 100 in cash. Lord Mayfield, the trial judge, who has since retired, described the murder as cruel and sadistic.
When Monks appeared before Lord Dawson at the High Court in Edinburgh yesterday for the punishment part of his sentence to be fixed, Pat Wheatley, defence solicitor advocate, explained that his client had
been given a release date of
January but that had been overtaken by the change in the law. He told the judge that at the time of the offence Monks was a 21-year-old first offender.
Lord Dawson said he took that into account but added: ''From the trial judge's report, you actively took part in a planned robbery when violence took place. That indicates that what happened was a calculated and brutal attack.''
The judge told Mill, 33, he should serve at least 13 years.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article