Killer may never go free after murdering again

A man who murdered his ex-wife was jailed for at least 20 years yesterday for the killing of another woman after he was freed from prison on licence.

Philip Fraser, 50, murdered Donna Forrest, with whom he had once had a relationship, at her home in Balintore, Easter Ross, on April 11 this year.

He attacked the 30-year-old mother with a knife and a hammer in an act of "appalling violence and barbarity".

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The High Court in Edinburgh heard Fraser was out on life licence, having been released from jail around two years previously.

He was sentenced to life imprisonment at Liverpool Crown Court in October 1997 for the murder of his former wife, Kathryn Scaife, and was released on life licence on February 15, 2008.

Judge Lord Menzies, sitting in Edinburgh, jailed Fraser for life yesterday and ordered him to spend a minimum of 20 years behind bars. He warned Fraser he may never be released from prison.

Passing sentence, Lord Menzies branded Fraser a "very dangerous man".

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

He told him: "You have pled guilty to the most serious crime known to our law, namely murder."

He had murdered a young woman who had everything to look forward to in life and who had done him no wrong. "You murdered her in an act of appalling violence and barbarity."

Fraser had hit her around the head with the hammer, fracturing her skull, and inflicted 15 stab wounds on her head and body. The judge had heard how the killing followed a campaign of harassment by Fraser against Ms Forrest after she ended their relationship in 2009.

"When she ended that relationship, you pestered her, upset her and made a nuisance of yourself, and then you murdered her," Lord Menzies said.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The court heard Fraser lived in a council house in Balintore at the time of the murder and had a short placement as an electrical repair man.

Ms Forrest, who worked in the local village shop and sub-post office, had recently completed the final year of an Open University degree in psychology and was looking forward to graduation.

Brian McConnachie QC, defending, told the court his client knew there was nothing he could say which would mitigate the offence.

The court heard Fraser began drinking at an early age and now has an alcohol dependency problem.

Related topics: