Prison killer accepts he will never be freed
- Published
James O'Rourke murdered fellow inmate Dean Ramsey at Glenochil prison
A jailed killer has accepted he will never be released from prison after he admitted murdering another inmate.
James O'Rourke choked 30-year-old Dean Ramsey to death in what a judge described as a "brutal execution".
The 52-year-old, who was jailed for life in 1992, was sentenced to another 23 years at the High Court in Glasgow.
His lawyer said that "by tendering the guilty plea, he is committing himself to spending the rest of his life in custody".
The court heard how O'Rourke, who has been convicted of a string of offences behind bars, was seen shaking hands with other prisoners at HMP Glenochil in Clackmannanshire after the attack on 9 January 2021.
He boasted: "Just because I am old, he thinks I am dafty. Well, it cost him his life."
Judge Lord Arthurson told him: "You are now 52. You come before this court with by far the worst criminal record I have encountered to date as a judge.
"This crime can be categorised as the callous, remorseless and entirely brutal execution of a fellow prisoner."
Held hostage'
O'Rourke was first sentenced to life for murdering a man in Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, in 1992.
In 1997, he was given another six years after a prison officer and a nurse were held hostage during an earlier stint at Glenochil.
O'Rourke received an eight-year term in 2002 for assault and abduction, then four years for a further attack in 2004.
He was next sentenced to eight years in 2005 for stabbing a prison escort and a senior jail official at HMP Kilmarnock.
O'Rourke was finally handed a nine-year term in 2019 after attempting to murder another prisoner at the same jail.