Shotgun killer wins £2100 for time spent in solitary

Oct 8 2009 by Alistair Watson, West Lothian Courier

THE decision to award a killer — who murdered an innocent West Lothian man in cold-blood — compensation for time he spent in solitary confinement in prison has been slammed as ‘monstrous’.

Evil Andrew Somerville killed Craig Anderson by blasting him in the head with a double barrel shotgun at point-blank range after kidnapping the Whitburn man and his fiancée in May 1993.

The brute went on to shoot and injure three police officers who were attempting to arrest him before he himself was taken down by a police marksman.

In September, 1993, at the High Court in Edinburgh Somerville was ordered to serve a minimum of 20 years in prison for his horrific crimes.

In 2002 the callous murderer spent five months locked up on his own in segregation cells at various prisons after he was moved from Shotts jail following a riot there.

But last week Somerville and four other cons were handed £2100 by the Scottish Prison Service in an out-of-court settlement after the 44-year-old killer complained the solitary conditions breached his human rights.

Politicians, and those directly affected by Somerville’s crimes, have joined to condemn the decision.

And the mother of one of the policemen shot by Somerville in the 1993 gun battle says she is horrified the murderer has received the payment.

The woman, who doesn’t want to be named for fear of reprisals when Somerville is released, said: “I am pretty disgusted by this — I think everybody is. It’s monstrous to think they have been given this money.

“It is ludicrous that a killer who has no regard for anyone else’s human rights can complain about his own being breached.

“When did his human rights come before other people’s human rights?

“These men were involved in riot situations and were put into solitary conditions. I wouldn’t mind going into solitary for £2000.”

The mother said her son was one of the first on the scene as police swooped on the killer after his slaying of Craig Anderson.

Somerville of Forth, crept up on the officers and shot her son, who was later rushed to St John’s Hospital for treatment.

“It was all very traumatic for him and extremely worrying for us at the time,” she said.

“It has left him with some problems but he is alive and we are very fortunate.

“We should all be concentrating on the family of the poor boy who was shot and how they are feeling.”

Livingston MSP Angela Constance revealed it had been a ruling by the House of Lords on the Somerville case which had left the Scottish Government liable for paying millions in compensation to prisoners.

The ruling meant the Scottish Government was not subject to the one-year time bar on claims — which is applied in the rest of the UK — and meant there could have been unlimited compensation requests from cons going back decades.

The SNP MSP revealed that the Scottish Government had already been forced to splash out £11 million in compensation on 3800 cases.

But an emergency bill passed by the Scottish Parliament in June means that from November this year Scotland will move into line with the rest of the UK.

Ms Constance added: “His case kicked off the slopping out compensation claims and had huge implications.

“What the emergency bill has done is limit the Scottish Government’s liability on human rights claims and given it the same protection as the UK Government.

“Some of these payments have been going to the least deserving people in society.

“Before this emergency bill was introduced the SPS was having to put aside £67m in its budget for future compensation claims. That was outrageous.

“I can understand relatives and victims being angered by this.

“I can well appreciate why it would cause so much angst and this is why the Scottish Government was so keen to put a stop to it.”

Somerville said he was put in segregation after a riot at Shotts Prison in 2002. The brute — who denied being involved in the disturbance — said he was held for 23 hours a day in a small cell without a toilet.

He also moaned he was not allowed to talk to other prisoners and had no access to work, education or training.

His lawyer told a judge at an earlier hearing before the settlement: “His human dignity was diminished by the conditions and he was disgusted by them.

“He has become clinically depressed and receives medication.

“The conditions have given rise to feelings of anguish and inferiority capable of humiliating and debasing him and possibly breaking his physical or moral resistance.”

In a statement, the SPS said it had agreed to settle the action to avoid further costs.

It said: “SPS sought to settle these claims out of court and avoid significant further legal expense.

“SPS is not accepting that their periods of detention were unlawful. The offer to settle is purely on economic grounds.”