Man who raped, murdered woman given lighter sentence due to his age - distressing story

[ArabeIIaScott]

This is a really horribly upsetting case, and the news stories are upsetting so content warning on the link.

What is the absolute final insult right now is the fact he's got a lighter sentence because he's 23.

https://news.sky.com/story/jill-barclay-man-23-who-raped-mum-of-two-in-aberdeen-and-burned-her-alive-given-lesser-sentence-due-to-young-age-12888501

'Jailing Bennett for life, Lord Arthurson said: "I have determined on the particular facts of this case that the notional headline punishment part of that sentence should sit at a period of 29 years.
"Taking into account, as I require to, the circumstances of your early plea and the engaged guidelines for the sentencing of offenders under 25, and approaching these discounting elements on an in cumulo basis, I fix the actual punishment part of your life sentence at a period of 24 years.'

Scotland, and the Scottish government: fuck you to hell.

Yes he has made some strange choices with his facial hair hasn’t he. Looks like a very weird guy.

I don't really understand the logic either.

23 year olds know that raping and murdering is fucking wrong.

23 or 53, a woman has needlessly lost her life in a horrific way because of him, two children have lost their mum because of him, and Jill's parents have lost their child because of him.

His age doesn't change that.

The government pretending that this piece of shit must be too immature to realise that battering, raping and burning a woman alive is wrong, that he's too young to understand that murdering a woman would impact that woman and her family, must be such a kick in the teeth for Jill's loved ones.

The key point in my post was that the Scottish Government are determined that men get leniency if they're young.

(Most criminals are young men, men under the age of 25.)

The responsibility and culpability and development of mature judgement is absolutely pertinent, here.

Yes! Insanity.

It is also very normal for English judges to take into account the young age of an offender as a mitigating factor and for that to have an effect on the length of sentence given.

I sit in a lot of sentencing hearings and sometimes I do genuinely agree when the defendant is 18 or 19, but definitely not 25. That’s a proper adult.

It's offensive. He needs to STAY in prison

Did anyone come across any more details about him?
Just looking at his picture, I'm glad he didn't plea diminished capacity to bring it down to manslaughter or even plead non guilty due to insanity.

My God I hadn't heard about this. Poor, poor Jill. As for the leniency, I read it that the judge disagrees with the reduction in sentence from the wording of the verdict. But that the guidelines mean he has to apply a reduction due to the defendant's age. And I agree with all those saying its utterly pointless to pretend that an offender such as this can be rehabilitated. He's an extremely dangerous individual and should never be freed. And he was absolutely not coerced or led astray or anything that might mitigate or suggest a lesser sentence. Utter sadistic bastard.

Exactly. How very convenient that the peak age for male violence against women (and other men) is now deemed worthy of a lesser sentence.

The 'immature brain under 25' stuff is cod science (despite being beloved by many on MN). Good summary of why it is meaningless here. It's disturbing to see how easily the judiciary are swayed by pseudoscience - see also parental alienation and TWAW.

He's no way 23. Looks at least double that!!

What that b*stard did to Jill Barclay actually made me cry. It was horrific. He should not see the light of day. That poor woman was going home to her children and fella and that monster put her through hell. I hate Scotland just now. I am Scottish and I love my friends and family up there but this isn't justice. Who cares that he is only 23 ? He's is a danger to women , a evil murderer.
I don't believe in the death penalty but this case made me think . Rest in peace Jill.

*an obviously

Oh FFS. I've seen this story in the news but I hadn't realised that his age was a factor in lower sentencing.

There just aren't enough swearwords for how I feel about this. He is a vile, disgusting excuse for a human, we all know that. But the new sentencing guidelines are also vile and disgusting.

Well as it's in Scotland he can just self ID as a woman and pop off to a women's prison if he likes.

The Scottish justice system seems to have lost the plot.

Yes, a huge amount of crime is committed by young males, so how convenient it is that young males are given favourable treatment by the justice system. Apparently, for every crime of which someone is convicted they have actually committed 40 crimes which have gone undetected. Many criminals are not sent to jail until their third or fourth conviction. That's an awful lot of men doing an awful lot of bad stuff before they see the inside of a prison, and then they are often released early automatically, regardless of how they have behaved inside. I definitely think the men who forged the criminal justice system identify more with criminals than with victims.

I believe this kind of clear cut rape, should carry a life sentence all on its own, even without the murder.

I am fully in favor of drastically reducing the use of prison for non-violent offenses, but this type of violent predator should be removed from general society.

Truly appalling - words fail me. The Scottish justice system is unfit for purpose.

There will never be a time when this fucker is no longer a danger to society.

It's called the bystander effect. It's a phenomenon researched and acknowledged after the murder of kitty genovese

The effect is real but, in fact, a number of Kitty Genovese's neighbours did try to help, and they successfully scared off the attacker initially, as well as calling the police link. It's quite sad that they have become falsely immortalised as not caring.

I read an article which had more detail about the woman who overheard. She went out and listened, but then decided it must have been coming from a party in a neighbouring house. So that was just a mistake. Shame, I feel for her too, how bloody awful she must feel now.

Well this thread has prompted me to write to my MSP about the appalling effect the new sentencing guidelines are having - I'm not sure if that is the right person to complain to though. Does anyone know?

And WHY WHY WHY would the bloke who was out walking his dog or the people in the flat nearby who heard not, at the absolute least, phone the police...what is wrong with people? I just can't get my head around that complete lack of concern for another human being...it makes me want to weep.

Do we know that they didn't? I have called the police before, when I heard a woman scream. They did send a patrol car out but, as I couldn't tell exactly where the scream came from (middle of a city), all they could do was drive around the neighbouring streets, looking for any obvious disturbance.

I'm sure it won't hurt. Would be good to hear from anyone who knows, though.

I think these guidelines need redoing. Fine for maybe low level crime, I can see the logic there.

But for rape, murder? Fuck that. It's obscene to say that if someone is young they are less culpable for such horrific crimes.

At least one person heard it happen but did nothing.