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Western Isles killer in bid to quash conviction

Stefan Millar
Stefan Millar

A second man found guilty of the Western Isles first murder in 40 years is going back to court to try and quash his conviction.

Stefan Millar, of Carloway, Lewis, and his friend Jonathon Mackinnon have always insisted they were innocent of the brutal killing of 16-year-old Liam Aitchison in November 2011.

A jury found them guilty following a trial at Glasgow High Court last year.

Now Millar has been informed his bid to clear his name will progress to a full appeal hearing.

Despite a detailed forensics investigation, there was no hard evidence to link Millar’s involvement with the murder – the absence of witnesses, fingerprints, blood or DNA at the scene was repeatedly highlighted by his defence lawyer.

Jonathon Mackinnon was previously told he can go back to court to try and overturn his conviction on certain grounds.

Their appeals are now “live” as both 23-year-old fishermen have now been officially allowed to challenge the jury’s decision said the Scottish Courts Service (SCS).

An SCS spokesman said no dates for appeal hearings have yet been fixed.

A full hearing in front of a panel of three judges in the Court of Criminal Appeal in Edinburgh, is expected to take place later this year.

Last June, the pair were given a life sentence and ordered to spend at least 18 years behind bars before they can apply for parole.

The discovery of Liam Aitchison’s bloodied body in a derelict house in Steinish two miles outside Stornoway sparked a large scale investigation involving 126 police officers, over 500 witnesses and more than 1,000 pieces of evidence.

The teenager was viciously stabbed 20 times with his nose and jaw fractured by the force of blows.

The trial heard the 16-year-old was probably dead before the attack was even over in the early hours of November 23, 2011.

It was alleged Millar and Mackinnon repeatedly hit him on the head and body with a knife and bottle and repeatedly kicked and stamped on his head.

No murder weapon nor the killers’ blood-stained clothing was ever found. Neither were there witnesses to the attack.

Millar was said to confess to the murder to a cell mate when remanded in custody after being charged with the crime the jury heard.

But the defence insisted Millar only spoke about what the police said the allegations were while the cellmate was on Valium and on a detox programme and exaggerated what he told.