'Limbs in the Loch killer' loses parole challenge

William Beggs was given a life sentence for the murder of teenager Barry Wallace

A man who murdered and dismembered a teenager in 1999 has lost a legal challenge against a decision to turn him down for release on parole.

William Beggs completed the 20-year minimum term of his life sentence for the murder of Barry Wallace in December 2019.

The following month the Parole Board for Scotland refused his application for release.

Beggs, 60, raised a judicial review at the Court of Session in Edinburgh but a judge has now refused his petition.

Judge Lord Richardson said he was "entirely satisfied" that the decision met the legal test.

Beggs was convicted for the murder of Mr Wallace who went missing after a staff Christmas party in Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, on 4 December 1999.

Part of his dismembered body was subsequently found in Loch Lomond.

The trial judge described the murder of the 18-year-old victim as a "most horrific crime".

His parole board tribunal said the killer had refused to comply with offence-focused work while in prison and had not been tested in less secure conditions.

Beggs, who continues to maintain his innocence, claimed the tribunal had failed to identify and weigh relevant factors.

He also argued that the decision was unlawful as it breached human rights legislation because the tribunal had not acted as an independent and impartial court at his hearing.

Lord Richardson said factors identified by Beggs "would not lead the fair-minded observer to conclude that there was a real possibility that the (parole board) tribunal lacked either independence or impartiality".