SCOTTISH
POLICE FEDERATION
5 Woodside Place, Glasgow, G3 7QF
MEDIA
RELEASE
The Scottish Police Federation represents all police officers in the
ranks of chief inspector and below, about 15,000 people, over 98%
of all police officers in Scotland.
To:
Date:
Subject: |
On
Request
Thursday
19 August 2004
Life
for Man who shot Police Officer |
In
July 2003, Constable John Cunningham was on duty at Shettleston Police
Station in Glasgow when a man shot and seriously injured him with
a sawn-off shotgun. Paul Murray (20) pled guilty to attempting to
murder John Cunningham but gave no explanation for his actions. He
was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment last year.
John's
wife Margaret and the Scottish Police Federation did not think that
sentence was severe enough. The Crown challenged the sentence and
Advocate Depute Brian McConnachie said that while all attempted murders
were serious, it was even more serious when a gun was used and the
victim was a serving police officer. Mr McConnachie also said that
police officers are by the very nature of their job the people in
the forefront of crime detection and prevention and must be adequately
protected by the courts. He called for an exemplary sentence.
Today,
(Thursday 19 August 2004 ) Appeal Court Judges, Lord Justice General
Lord Cullen, Lord MacLean and Lord Osborne said the original sentence
of 10 years was ‘unduly lenient' and imposed a life sentence. The
length of time Murray will actually serve before the possibility of
release will be decided by the Judges at a later date.
Douglas
Keil, General Secretary of the Scottish Police Federation said,
“We
welcome the decision of the Crown Office to take this appeal and the
decision of the Appeal Court in increasing the sentence to life imprisonment.
It is extremely important that the court protects police officers
and this should go some way to doing that.”
