June and Hugh McLeod have been told the individual was seen fighting with 24-year-old Kevin in The Shore area shortly before he came to grief in February 1997.

The man has an apparently watertight alibi in that he was then a serving prisoner.

But Kevin's parents and his uncle Allan McLeod believe the man, then 27, was at the time on weekend home release from Castle Huntly open prison.

As previously reported, they drew a blank with attempts to find out the true position from the Scottish Prison Service.

The SPS first claimed it did not have the relevant records, only to subsequently concede it did have them but could not release them under the terms of the Data Protection Act.

The family have now canvassed the help of two MSPs to break through the official block.

Allan McLeod said it is an issue which should be a priority in a renewed probe into Kevin's death which they have asked Lord Advocate Elish Angiolini to approve.

The family have information that the man, who they have identified, and two others, were involved in an altercation with Kevin outside the then Carter's Bar on the night of the tragedy.

They have also learned from a fellow prisoner that the individual returned from Castle Huntly days before his release from Porterfield Prison in Inverness on February 27, 1997.

Allan McLeod, from Alness, said the issue has festered away without being put to bed.

He said the family has drawn a blank with both the Crown Office and Scottish Prison Service.

A Freedom of Information request resulted in the SPS being criticised for initially claiming it did not hold the information about the prisoner but supported its belief that confidentiality rules apply.

The most recent knockback came when the family's Glasgow solicitor, John Macaulay, requested the information from Ian Whitehead, the governor of Castle Huntly, near Dundee.

The family have since asked Highland SNP MSP Rob Gibson and Conservative justice spokesman Bill Aitken to intervene.

Allan McLeod said: "This is something that has been gnawing away at us for years and we believe it's an issue that needs to be resolved – one way or the other.

Mr McLeod said it is disingenuous of the police to simply say that the individual was not at liberty from Porterfield Prison at the time.

He said: "We are not disputing that. While he ended up being released from Porterfield, we believe he was detained at Castle Huntly and that he was on day release from there on the weekend of Kevin's death."

The family have still to learn whether the Lord Advocate will overturn Chief Constable Ian Latimer's recent refusal to authorise a cold case review into the circumstances Kevin's death.

They contend that the whereabouts of the prisoner on the fateful weekend would play a central role in any such future probe.

Mr McLeod believes that the individual is currently in Thailand.

Mr McLeod cannot understand why the information being sought should not be forthcoming. He said: "If you're convicted of a crime which results in a prison sentence, you should lose your rights to that privacy. If on your release people suspect you have been involved in a crime, information about your movements should and must be revealed."

An SPS spokeswoman said: "It is our policy not to divulge details about the location or movements of prisoners, other than to confirm that the individual is in custody.

"We would otherwise be breaching the Data Protection Act."

iain-grant@ukf.net

Printer friendly version

Email this article to a friend

Bookmark this

---