Infamous Scots. Joseph McGinlay.

Contains Sensitive Information.

28 Mar 1997

A murderer who struck for the second time was jailed for life yesterday, with a recommendation that he serve at least 30 years.

Joseph McGinlay, 40, is one of the few men in Scottish legal history to have been allowed out of prison to murder again. He was on weekend leave from Noranside Open Prison, near Forfar, when he strangled 22-year-old Mandy Barnett and stabbed her through the heart in her Edinburgh flat.

When he was 18, McGinlay, from Dalmellington in Ayrshire, was jailed for life at the High Court in Glasgow for the equally savage murder of 16-year-old Mrs Elizabeth Cassidy. He was also sentenced to 10 years for the attempted murder of her friend, Josephine Humphreys, 13.

After a jury at the High Court in Edinburgh found McGinlay guilty unanimously of murdering Miss Barnett, the dead woman’s parents spoke of their relief that their nightmare had ended and questioned a system which allowed convicted murderers out to kill again.

Mr Terry Barnett read from a prepared statement: ”This last year of our lives has been a living nightmare which, hopefully, we can now put behind us. ”We are glad that the right verdict has been reached and, hopefully, McGinlay will spend the rest of his life behind bars. ”We feel that the people that let these violent people out for weekends for drink, drugs, etc, should be answerable for their actions. ”Our lives are not going to be the same but now we can start looking forward.”

Both thanked friends and Lothian and Borders Police for the support they had been given throughout the case. After the jury returned its verdict, they learned from Advocate-depute Michael O’Grady of McGinlay’s violent past.