GLASGOW RAPIST JOHN JOHNSTONE FAILS SECOND BID FOR PRISON TRANSFER
A killer rapist has lost a second legal bid to be transferred to prison from the State Hospital at Carstairs.John Johnstone, 54, raped 27-year-old Lizzie Duffy then pushed her from flats in Royston, Glasgow, in July 1997.He admitted culpable homicide on the grounds of diminished responsibility.Johnstone lost a legal bid in 2013 to be transferred to prison - a move which could eventually lead to parole.
A judge has now ruled that his detention does not breach his human rights.Following Johnstone's guilty plea in 1998, a court order was made preventing his release from the State Hospital without the agreement of the Scottish ministers.
Johnstone's appeal against this ruling in 2013 was rejected at the Court of Appeal in Edinburgh.He then sought a judicial review at the Court of Session in Edinburgh, arguing that his continued detention meant the Scottish government was breaching the European Convention on Human Rights.
But judge Lord Glennie ruled that Johnstone should be kept in the State Hospital.
In a written judgment, Lord Glennie wrote: "I do not find the petitioner's convention rights to have been breached by the Scottish Ministers by detaining him in a hospital."
