A grieving mother has described the sentence handed to the man who beat her son to death with an iron bar an “injustice.”
Thomas Pryde was jailed for a decade last week for the 1999 killing of Adam Alexander.
Mr Alexander’s mother, Tricia Bremner, had wanted to see a life tariff imposed. Her son’s body has never been recovered.
Although she was in court to see Pryde sentenced, she is only now able to talk about her “disgust, hurt and anger” after taking the weekend to reflect on last Thursday’s proceedings.
She said, “I’ve done nothing but cry. I wanted him to get life and, by that, I mean life with no remission.
“The judge (Lord Bracadale) said Tom Pryde will miss out on family life and things like that but my son lost his life and I’ve lost my family.
“Adam didn’t have the chance to have family or children. Nobody should kill, but sometimes it happens in self-defence, but to then do the things he did to my son’s body is beyond words.”
In November 1999, Pryde killed Mr Alexander at his home in an argument, before stripping his body and burying him somewhere near Errol.
His crimes came to light when he split from his wife and she went to police with details of his activities.
Charged with murder, he pled guilty to culpable homicide and had his sentence reduced by four years as a result of not going to trial.
Mrs Bremner said, “I feel hurt and angry at the injustice of him being allowed to admit to killing Adam, as opposed to there being a trial, so at no time did I get to hear anything other than the stuff the procurator fiscal had written down.
“What do they know about the search for Adam and all the rest that went on prior to Tam Pryde being arrested?’Washed out'”The sentence of 10 years is beyond belief. I feel absolutely gutted, like a washed-out rag. It’s more than 10 years since Adam went missing so that’s not even a year for every one that we have searched for him.
“Because he pled guilty, his sentence was knocked down from 14 years to 10 is that the value judges put on people’s lives?
“I’d like to think the fiscal will look again and realise there are a great deal of issues that haven’t been considered.
“Would this ever have been achieved if it wasn’t for Tam Pryde and his wife splitting up or would we still be in the dark?
“Adam has been completely forgotten in the whole process. His life and future have not been taken into account in any way.
“Thomas Pryde is the same age now as my son was when he went missing and he’s now looking to get it over and done with and then get out and get on with his life and business. Who does he think he is?”
Pryde is one of only a handful of killers to be convicted despite the victim’s body never having been found.
He has pledged to help police to find the grave, after the first location he gave was wrong.