Obsessed husband faces life sentence

Aug 5 2010 by Alistair Watson, West Lothian Courier

AN OBSESSED husband who had previously been jailed for setting fire to his wife’s home could now face a life sentence for pouring oil on his in-laws’ driveway.

Persistent offender Gary Barron has already served prison sentences for the fire-raising offence as well as for cutting the brake cables on his wife’s car.

Now the courts are considering whether to place the 47-year-old on an Order for Lifelong Restriction after he admitted maliciously pouring oil on the driveway of his parent-in-laws’ home at Kaims Court, Livingston, on April 12.

At the High Court in Edinburgh, Lord Menzies deferred sentence on Barron, for the preparation of a full risk assessment report.

This can lead to the making of an Order for Lifelong Restriction under which a judge sets a minimum jail term to be served and any future release is decided by the parole board with continuing supervision on licence in the community.

At an earlier appearance at Livingston Sheriff Court a sheriff had sent him to the High Court to consider whether it was an appropriate case for such an order.

Sheriff Douglas Kinloch had said it was a “somewhat difficult and anxious case” to sentence and pointed to Barron’s previous convictions.

In November 2009 the Courier told how Barron had been returned to prison after he breached his supervised release order just days after being freed from a three-year sentence.

Barron had been jailed after he pleaded guilty to endangering the life of his wife and other road users by cutting the brake cables on her car in September 2007.

The 47-year-old also admitted smashing her car window while it was parked at Carmondean Health Centre.

Barron also placed a Bible through the door of his wife’s home with the sinister message “Burn baby burn” written in it.

Sheriff Donald Muirhead sentenced Barron to three years for the offences in March 2008 and ordered that he be supervised for a year following his release.

However, upon his release in June 2009 Barron committed a breach of the peace almost immediately by writing to his wife and was returned to prison to serve the unexpired portion of his sentence.

Following his release Barron had been living in Armadale but has been remanded in Saughton Prison since the oil incident.

Advocate depute Andrew Stewart QC said witnesses had described the oil as being all over the driveway, which is thought to have caused about £3000 worth of damage.

Defence counsel Edgar Prais QC said at the time Barron did not know where his wife was living as she was at a secret address.

Mr Prais said that before Barron sustained a head injury in a motorcycle accident he had been “a perfectly responsible, hard-working man”.

He added: “Clearly it is a very, very difficult case when it comes to the matter of sentencing.”