Some stories from the Evening Times about the murder.



Evening times articles........

WELL-KEPT gardens sit next to shops draped with metal curtains. On one street, the words, ''Colin is a dead man'', are scrawled across an empty building. Galston may be an East Ayrshire village with typical problems of drugs and deprivation. But, until Sunday, it was not known for violent crime against its elderly residents.
The vicious attack on Margaret Irvine, a 91-year-old grandmother, on Sunday set it apart from the break-ins which have recently worried people on Barward Road.
Detective Chief Inspector Willie Prendergast said the widow, whose home had been raided within the past few months, had been subjected to a particularly violent ordeal.
He said: ''This was your typical old lady who was too trusting. At this time, we have still to establish a motive for this senseless crime committed against a well-respected senior member of the community.''
Mrs Irvine suffered from sciatica, a condition which impaired her mobility. Her body was discovered by Violet Connell, one of five home helps who visited her .
A widow who lost husband John several years ago, Mrs Irvine was understood to have two daughters, Lillian and Margaret, who both live in Ayrshire and a son, who died many years ago. She lived next door to nephew Charles Keers, who was too upset to comment.
Detectives yesterday reassured residents that the police presence will be stepped up and unmarked cars will be on patrol.
The murder has shaken Mrs Irvine's neighbours, many of whom are elderly and living on their own.
One woman, who has lived on the street for more than 60 years, said: ''It knocks you for six to be told something like that. I just would not have thought this could happen. My doors are locked all day but still, it makes you wonder. It is quite a shock.''
Another neighbour and friend, Nancy Boyes, said: ''She was a lovely chatty lady but I knew she hadn't been keeping well.
''It's very worrying. I'm concerned about my mother - she's on her own and an awful one for opening the door to strangers.''
Mrs Boyce added: ''The community has changed for the worse, with a lot of the young ones drinking heavily and taking drugs. Somebody was stabbed on Catherine Drive just a couple of months ago. I have seen ones that I know are dabbling in it hanging around down Mrs Irvine's end of the street.''
This concern was shared by Chris Wilson, whose parents have lived near Mrs Irvine for more than 20 years: ''There have always been problems here but the council have now moved a lot of drug addicts into Catherine Drive. It's getting really rough.''
Some residents claim that council housing policy has increased a significant number of people who they believe are responsible for many of Galston's problems.
However, Isobel Macrae, a resident and local councillor, warned villagers not to discriminate. ''I do realise people are concerned, but you cannot create sections within the community which would become ghettoes.''
But she added: ''This has certainly put a lot of fear into residents, especially the elderly who are most at risk. They do get frightened alone in their own home town. They should make sure they will be secure and not be afraid to approach myself, the council or the police.''




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- EVENING TIMES STORY-

SCOTLAND was outraged at the murder of frail great-grandmother Margaret Irvine a month ago.
She was tied up and beaten to death in her home in Galston, Ayrshire - and her killer is still on the loose..................................
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SHEILA HAMILTON visited Galston to find villagers gripped by fear, and impatient for the killer to be caught.

THE horrific murder of 91-year-old Margaret Irvine sent shockwaves far beyond her village of Galston in the Irvine Valley.
And it has struck deep into the heart of the close-knit former mining and weaving village.
There's anger, fear and disbelief that such a thing could happen to a frail, defenceless old woman living in their midst.
The villagers of Galston all say the same thing - ''It could have been your granny or mine.''
They are alarmed that nearly a month after Mrs Irvine was beaten to death in her sitting room, her brutal killer has not been caught.
The residents of this handsome little village want the murder solved - but they fear the hunt for the killer has come to a standstill.
They are becoming increasingly cynical as the investigation drags on and the police seem to have no leads.
Detectives have sought the help of a TV Cracker-style psychologist, and they have not ruled out DNA testing the whole village.
One village shopkeeper, who didn't want to be named, said rumours were flying thick and fast, with everyone saying the police didn't have a clue.
And pointing to a copy of the newly-released police poster appealing for help, a passer-by suggested it smacked of desperation.
As she stuck a poster up in the window of her hairdressing shop in the town's Cross Street, owner Lindsay Christie, 42, was inclined to agree.
She said: ''We have only just got these posters - more than three weeks after the murder. It seems as if they are locking the stable door after the horse has bolted.
''If they had done more about it the first time Mrs Irvine had her house broken into, they might have prevented this.''
Mrs Christie admitted a lot of her elderly clients didn't feel quite as safe as they had.
''My own mum is 75 and lives in Galston and, like everyone else, she doesn't have the same confidence to answer her door,'' she said.
Ironically, they have probably never been safer, as there's a heavy police presence in the village.

You can't miss the murder scene in Barward Road. Floral tributes on the pavement are regularly renewed and a police incident van is parked outside.
Round every corner, it seems you come on a police van or a foot patrol.
''We have suddenly acquired a police presence,'' Mrs Christie said. ''Before, you were lucky to see a policeman if a window was smashed in.
''And before this, there were only two police officers for the whole of the valley.''
Mrs Irvine's nephew, Charles Keers, who lives next door to her home, said he had been advised by the police not to comment.
And other close neighbours were equally guarded, perhaps intimidated by a police van nearby.
All said they were more wary, more careful, and now locked their doors when they popped out.
Most of the houses are well kept and the residents are good people, but locals speak of an influx of drug users into the area.
As she made her way back from the shops to the murder scene, a building scarred with graffiti, 26-year-old mum Joanne Zaisluk said: ''In the past year, it has been
crummier around here.
''When I come home late in the evening from work, I don't feel happy just walking up the path from the car.
''It's hard to think someone could do such a thing to an old woman, and to know it happened just round the corner is so shocking.
''It makes you more aware. You think you know people - now you look at everyone differently.
''Before, when I was going to the shop, I would just shut the door behind me. Now I make sure it's locked.''
This year, she won't be taking her seven-year-old daughter Nichole round the houses guising at Hallowe'en.
''I would be quite scared to do that and we're just going to have a party at home,'' she said.

MRS Margaret Connell, 50, a near neighbour of Mrs Irvine, said: ''The person who has done this is just an animal.
''Even hardened criminals wouldn't do this.''
She suggested that one of the biggest problems was that the
murder happened on a Sunday when most people were indoors.
''Every other day of the week, people would have been out and about,'' she said.
Mrs Fiona Marshall, 39, who also lives nearby, said she was inclined to think from the number of police in the area they considered the killer was definitely a local person.
She said: ''Everyone is totally disgusted. We feel it must have been someone who knew her house wasn't secured during the day and that's the most worrying thing.''
Councillor Isabel Macrae, a near neighbour, said: ''She was one of my constituents and a friend.
''The community has gone through initial shock and fear to a feeling of empathy for the family.''
Later, she issued a statement praising the local police for their understanding and thorough approach.
She also promised that East Ayrshire Council had taken on board the community's fears and concerns and was confident the murderer would be caught.
Families all over the village are much more fearful and concerned for their elderly relatives.
Mrs Jean Crombie, 78, has lived in Galston all her life and is grateful she stays in sheltered accommodation with an alarm and buzzer.
Her family have impressed on her that she must not open her door at night and must always use the buzzer.
''It is terrible it has had to come to this,'' said Mrs Crombie. ''You couldn't imagine this happening in such a quiet area. It makes you feel insecure, even in your own house.''
Mrs Irene Paterson, 63, said: ''I just wish they would hurry up and catch someone. Why were the posters so long in going up? Someone is hiding the murderer.''
Another neighbour said: ''Everyone's so angry and just
hoping someone is caught soon. But as time goes by, you begin to wonder if they ever will be.''
 

No justice for the innocent Monday 20 July 2009 Paul Haste Printable Email "I'm not a good guy," says Paddy Hill. "I have 17 previous convictions." He says it casually, then his eyes harden and his voice suddenly rises. "But I tell you one thing - I was given 21 fucking life sentences for nothing, and there's not a day goes by that I don't want to get a gun, walk into a police station and shoot every police officer in the place fucking dead."

Paddy is one of the six men framed and jailed for the bombing of two pubs in Birmingham in 1974 in which 21 people were killed.

It took three Court of Appeal hearings to overturn his conviction, but it will take the rest of his life to deal with the extreme post-traumatic stress disorder that 16 years in jail have left him with.

"What I would like is to wake up one morning and be happy, but I'm so fucked up that I haven't got a hope of a normal life," he says.

"I've been around the block trying to get help, but doctors tell me that the NHS doesn't have anyone who can treat someone so severely traumatised and all the voluntary organisations tell me that they are only allowed to help prisoners who have done their time."

"They can only treat the guilty, not the innocent," he says bitterly.

No-one has ever been held responsible for the miscarriage of justice that has lost Paddy 34 years of his life - 34 years because the trauma that he suffers still isn't over.

"Prison kills you a little bit each day, and sooner or later you wake up and you don't feel nothing, you don't give a fuck about anything," he says.

"When I was inside, I cared about just one thing - getting to the Court of Appeal and getting out. But now that I'm out, I feel nothing - not for my kids, not for anything."

Paddy left Belfast 50 years ago to look for a factory job in Birmingham.

"It was leave or join the British army like my father had done and my brothers did.

"But back then Birmingham was so racist there were signs on the walls at the factories that said 'Vacancies - no Paddies'," he says.

"Times were hard, tough. The police used to beat us up and to be honest a lot of the time I deserved it. And by the time the pubs were bombed I probably knew all the cops in Birmingham.

"But after the bombs, it changed. The West Midlands serious crimes squad came in and things were different. After I was taken to the cells, these cops told me: 'We know you didn't do it, but we don't give a fuck.'

"They wanted to get confessions and convictions no matter what, to get their bosses and the papers off their backs, so they beat me, knocked out all my teeth and burned me with cigarettes."

Paddy has told his story many times now, seeking out people who will listen and who might be able to help "the innocents" as he calls them - victims of miscarriages of justice that happen every single day.

Together with Paddy, John McManus organises the Miscarriages Of Justice Organisation (MOJO), which advocates for those still inside who claim that they are innocent and tries to assist the wrongfully imprisoned when they are finally released.

"Even 10 years after Paddy got out in 1991, the Lord Chancellor still had to admit that the Court of Appeal was overturning almost 800 convictions every year," John explains.

"Wrongful criminal convictions are a normal, everyday fact of life, but no-one is ever held responsible, and none of the victims ever receive the medical help that they need, let alone the recognition they deserve - no-one even ever says sorry," he states flatly.

John relates that when he first met Paddy, "I assumed that he must be getting counselling - to help to put his life back together and start to deal with the outside world, but he got nothing.

"The state just doesn't want to know, just wants people like him to disappear," he adds.

MOJO is now trying to set up a trauma centre in Scotland, with the help of the National Union of Mineworkers, the FBU firefighters' union and RMT.

Paddy and John were invited to the RMT recent conference on the Isle of Man as part of their efforts to raise awareness of the extreme suffering that the innocents endure.

"There is nothing for innocent people after they are released, no preparation, no counselling, pre or post-release - nothing," says John in disgust.

"There can be no doubt that wrongful incarceration is damaging, but what is worse is the way individuals are released back into society, compounding that damage, damaging them irreparably."

John explains that "few doctors can recognise post-traumatic stress disorder immediately and most just give drugs, but what these people need is cognitive behavioural therapy to deal with what is tearing them up inside."

Paddy recalls that he was put in jails together with prisoners "who had been thrown out of other jails for being too violent.

"Prison life was constant tension, constant stress, constant fucking violence. Each day you are just living on your nerves. When you get out, you think that you can handle it, but there is nothing that can prepare you.

"After 18 years, I still break down, crying like a child on the floor and I don't fucking know why," his says angrily, before his voice drops to a whisper as he repeats, shaking his head, "I just don't fucking know why."

Unions are backing MOJO's campaign to set up the trauma centre for the innocents because, as John points out simply, "unions exist to help people and trade unionists know that this is a human rights issue.

"What we need to do now is make it a political issue. The state has a responsibility to help miscarriage of justice victims, but the government will do everything it can to dismiss us, to deny to people who have already been denied justice their humanity as well.

"But, with the help of the unions, we are not going to let them get away with it."

MOJO can be contacted via www.mojoscotland.com

Taken from Morning Star.

http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/index.php/features/no_justice_for_the_innocent

 

Hearing date for Brendan Dixon.


HMA -v- Brendan Dixon KM03011569 XC213/05 PSPUC09550903 Appeal Hearing 18/08/2009 1 Day 18/08/2009
Brendan Dixon

Appeal date November 3rd, 4th, 5th. Edinburgh.


Brendan Dixon innocent Irishman serving life in a Scottish prison for a crime the evidence says he did not commit.