Lawyers acting for murderered Perthshire pensioner Jenny Methven’s son have secured an order to arrest thousands of pounds belonging to the convicted killer.
David Methven returned home to find Mrs Methven slumped in a chair in the kitchen with her arms hanging by her sides and a blood-stained towel draped over her head.
Mrs Methven, 80, was alone at Kildinney Cottage, Forteviot, in Perthshire, when she was brutally assaulted on February 20 2012.
William Kean subsequently stood trial for the fatal attack on the pensioner and was jailed for life and ordered to serve at least 22 years in prison after he was found guilty of her murder later that year.
Mr Methven, of Muckhart Road, Dunning, raised an action at the Court of Session in Edinburgh suing Kean for damages following his mother’s death. Payment of £160,000 was sought.
The compensation claim put forward by David Methven included damages sought for the distress and anxiety he endured contemplating the suffering of his mother before her death, the grief and sorrow suffered and the loss of her society.
Kean said in his defence that he did not murder or injure Mrs Methven and he has applied to the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission, which looks at alleged miscarriages of justice, to review his conviction.
A judge was told a settlement had eventually been reached with Kean’s wife, who was divorcing him, and the murderer had received a lump sum of about £35,000 as his interest in the matrimonial home, although only about £13,000 remained.
The action is scheduled to go to a full hearing later this year but Mr Methven’s counsel Michael Stuart made a motion to seek arrestment of the funds.
The judge, Lord Uist, granted the move.