A man found guilty of murdering Liam Aitchison is appealing against his conviction.
Stefan Millar, of Carloway, Lewis, and Jonathon Mackinnon of Stornoway, were found
guilty at Glasgow High Court last month.
Both men denied the murder and stood trial. A jury found both guilty of brutally
stabbing the boy to death in a derelict house at Steinish, outside Stornoway, in
the early hours of November 23 2011.
Judge Lord Kinclaven sentenced them to a minimum of 18 years in jail before they
will be eligible to apply for parole.
A deadline to lodge an intention of appeal for the pair runs out on Friday.
Stefan Millar has taken the first formal steps to overturn the court’s decision.
To continue the process his solicitors John Pryde and Co of Edinburgh will prepare
documents over the next two months to back Mr Millar’s case.
Liam Aitchison of South Uist was staying on his father’s home island of Lewis when
he was murdered.
His broken, bloodied body was discovered by a volunteer coastguard searcher about
a week after Liam was reported missing.
A large scale investigation involved 126 police officers gathered information from
over 500 witnesses and accumulated more than 1,000 pieces of evidence.
He had been stabbed him 20 times in an abandoned building at the edge of Stornoway
airport. His nose and jaw was fractured by the force of blows.
The trial heard the 16-year-old was possibly dead before the vicious attack was even
over.
It was alleged Millar and Mackinnon repeatedly hit him on the head and body with
a knife and bottle and repeatedly kicked and stamped on his head.
Liam died within minutes. Three injuries were fatal though he was probably dead when
the third one was inflicted pathologist, Dr Rosslyn Rankin told the trial.
No murder weapon was ever found. Neither were the killer‘s blood-stained clothing
and no witnesses saw the attack.
There was no DNA evidence, forensics or fingerprints at the scene which could show
Stefan Millar was ever at that house.
A top, trousers and trainers Liam had borrowed from Mr Mackinnon were taken off his
dead body and never found again.
Four specks of blood on carpet where Liam was killed were a match for Mr Mackinnon
but the court heard blood cannot be dated and Mr Mackinnon was said to have cut himself
at the rundown house some years beforehand.
The was conflicting reports about the date of death.
Liam could have been alive days after he was said to have been killed, thus Millar
and Mackinnon couldn’t have been responsible said the defence.
The slow progress of rigour mortis and decomposition in the teenager’s body indicated
he died some time later than the early morning of 23 November 2011 according to
the defence.
But forensic expert Prof Busuttil firmly believed it was “highly unlikely” Liam died
on that date though he stressed “it was not an exact science.”
The prosecution case pivoted on Liam being murdered within a “communication silence”
period on 23 November 2011.
Between the three men leaving Mackinnon’s mother’s then home in Plasterfied on Lewis
at 12.30am and two of them returning, without Liam, by 2am, Millar and Mackinnon
suspended their busy use of their mobile phones.
Prosecutor Iain McSporran said the pair collaborated in “laying a false trail” in
these 90 minutes.
“They have linked their fates together,” he concluded, “if one was engaged in murder,
so was the other.”
Mackinnon did not give evidence but Stefan Millar did and insisted it was too wet
to text as his phone would get soaked in the pouring rain that evening when he said
the three of them headed from Plasterfield down Anderson Road. He said Liam headed
off towards a friend’s house.
Stefan Millar was said to confess to the murder to a cell mate when remanded in custody
after being charged with the crime the court heard.
But the defence insisted Millar only told him what the allegations were while the
cellmate was on valium and on a detox programme and exaggerated what he told.
Frances McMenamin QC said there was no evidence to suggest Mr Millar stabbed Liam
to “seal the pact” with Mr Mackinnon.
Islander convicted of Liam Aitchison’s murder lodges appeal 9/7/13
Stefan Millar has launched a legal process to appeal against his murder conviction.