The Law Killers by Alexander McGregor

them if necessary and disregard their inner spirits as of no consequence.
Physical and mental brutality does exist in Peterhead. This matter can only be resolved with the introduction of rehabilitation. If the prison authorities insist on treating prisoners like animals, then prisoners will naturally continue to act like animals.
Prisoners (including myself) have been described as incurable psychopaths, subversive and hell-bent on destruction. This can only be described as an excuse rather than a truth. I ask you, have prisoners been given the chance to express themselves in any other way? Certainly not in Peterhead.
    However well-expressed, the plea cut little ice with presiding judge Lord Murray. He made no distinction between the trio and sentenced each of them to 10 years, terms he wanted taken into account when their life sentences and eventual release were being considered.
    Smith had plenty of time to reflect on prison life and its care of inmates. He was to remain in Peterhead for another 16 years before eventually being freed on licence. Altogether he had served 19 years. Notwithstanding his words to Lord Murray, he claimed that during his incarceration he had ‘found God’ and reformed his ways. Some police officers and social workers who knew him doubted his conversion and considered his new-found faith to be little more than a ploy to obtain his freedom. Privately, they called him the ‘master manipulator’.
    It was a description that seemed particularly fitting considering Smith’s next brush with the law.
    Several months after his release in October 2002, the man with the violent past attended a Saturday night dance in Stonehaven where he befriended a 49-year-old Canadian-born woman. After a few dances, he talked her into allowing him to walk her home. He even persuaded the woman, a bank manager, to invite him into the cottage she shared with her daughter for a cup of coffee. Within a short time, however, and for whatever reason, Smith’s new acquaintance became uneasy. Regretting her offer of hospitality, she told him to leave. Reluctantly, he agreed and, after some hesitation, departed.
    But a few days later, in the early hours of one morning, he returned to the cottage, which was in darkness.
    He moved cautiously, sure he was unobserved. He did not know, however, that his stealthy approach had been detected. The woman’s daughter, who had risen from bed for a glass of water, had spotted him walking up the garden path and became instantly apprehensive. Ducking out of sight, she watched, terror-filled, as the handle of the door slowly turned from the outside. Her heart pounded so hard she was certain the uninvited visitor on the other side would hear it. Desperately, she tried to remember if the house had been locked up for the night or if the door would start to open. She closed her eyes and prayed. When she opened them again, the handle had ceased to turn and the sound of footsteps moving round the side of the house told her her God had been listening.
    The girl let out the breath she hadn’t been aware she’d been holding and after a few moments quietly alerted her mother. Together the pair remained silent but petrified as the man who had killed prowled around the exterior of the house, peering into various windows. Whatever his original intentions, and to the enormous relief of the terrified mother and daughter, Smith appeared to have a change of heart and a few minutes later departed. Once he was out of sight they called the police and a short time later the sinister, unwelcome visitor, was found close by and arrested.
    After being taken to the police station in Stonehaven, Smith requested permission to visit the toilet. It was then his earlier intentions became all too evident. Checking the WC immediately after he’d used it, police found a knife and a packet of condoms in the cistern. The discovery raised questions in the minds of the officers but, with nothing else to go on, they dismissed the