Perth murderer David Meehan has failed in a bid for freedom.
The killer who battered a gay council worker to death on the city’s South Inch in a savage late night attack, had sought a judicial review of his continuing incarceration.
In April 2007, Meehan, with two other men, attacked stranger James Kerr in the public park and left him lying in a pool of blood, before going partying.
He later walked past his victim where they had left him but did nothing to help him.
Mr Kerr died later the same day in Ninewells Hospital.
Meehan was sentenced to life behind bars with a minimum term of 16 years – reduced by two years on appeal.
The punishment portion of his sentence, therefore, expired on April 24 2021 but two days later, it was decided he would not be released.
Meehan had sought a judicial review into a decision not to allow him back into the community but this has been rejected.
Still a risk to the public
In a ruling, Lady Dorrian pointed out Meehan has developed a drug habit while in custody and racked up further convictions while behind bars.
She said he remains a risk to the public as a result.
She said: “It was considered that the drug addiction which he had developed whilst in custody increased the level of risk he presented to the public.
“During his time in custody he had accrued several misconduct reports.
“Two convictions, in 2011 and 2017, had demonstrated a history of substance misuse, and there was a lack of a sustained and successful period of unescorted community testing.
“The (Life Sentence Prisoner) Tribunal also considered the index offence and that Meehan had been described as continuing to present a medium risk of causing serious harm.
“There was no real evidence that it was unlikely that he would commit similar offences again.”
She ruled Meehan had little chance of succeeding in a judicial review.
Murder that shocked a city
The high court heard the homophobic murder was sparked when a teenager claimed Mr Kerr had “tried it on” in the park as he walked through at 2.30am.
He called Meehan – then 19 – and Mark Soutar, 21, and they punched and kicked Mr Kerr to death.
Meehan walked past Mr Kerr where he still lay on the Inch, still alive, around two hours later but did nothing to help him.
Soutar pled guilty to culpable homicide and was ordered to serve a 12-year extended sentence.
Judge Lord Macphail, sitting at the High Court in Edinburgh, told the pair: “This was a killing of a callous and brutal character, which appears to have been marked by a homophobic element.”
He told Meehan specifically, “As far as you were concerned, this was a savage and sustained attack upon a defenceless man who had done you no harm.”
The court was told that the 15-year-old was heard leaving the scene, saying: “I hate gays and poofters.”
The court heard all three went to a house party straight after the attack, where they boasted about what they had done.
The teenager, 15 years old, was never publicly named and was sentenced to a year’s detention.
Two years were taken from Meehan’s sentence when appeal court judges ruled not enough consideration had been given to his age at the time of the killing.
They also said there was no evidence led that he had been motivated by homophobia.
