Moira Jones murder verdict: Harcar guilty

A jury at the High Court in Glasgow took just over an hour to unanimously convict Marek Harcar of robbing, raping and killing sales adviser Moira Jones, 40.

He was jailed for life and told he would spend a minimum of 25 years behind bars.

Harcar, 33, fled to his home country after Ms Jones's battered body was discovered in the city's Queens Park last May.

Harcar was also convicted of attempting to defeat the ends of justice by fleeing Scotland to Slovakia to avoid detection for the crime.

He was jailed for another three years for this offence, to be served concurrently with the life sentence.

Ms Jones, originally from Weston in Staffordshire, was attacked by Harcar after parking her car yards from her flat at nearby Queens Drive on the night of May 28, 2008.

She was taken into Queens Park and assaulted before being dragged deeper into the centre of the park.

Her partially-clothed body was found by a park ranger lying face-down behind a privet hedge the following day.

The businesswoman had received at least 65 separate injuries as a result of "severe and sustained blunt-force trauma", her clothes were torn and her personal belongings were scattered around her.

Moira's family were in court to see the jury return its verdict.

As Harcar was led from the dock there were shouts of "beast" and "animal" from the public gallery.

The court was told Harcar has 13 previous convictions, four of which involved violence.

Sentencing Harcar, Lord Bracadale told him his crime had "shocked the nation".

He said: "The death of Moira Jones and the manner of it was a devastating blow to her parents and family, caused great distress to her friends and colleagues and shocked the nation.

"Moira Jones was a hard-working woman who, after a day of meetings and some socialising, made her way home after 11pm.

"Near home she encountered you and her fate was sealed.

"You had consumed a large amount of alcohol and declared your intention to seek a woman.

"You abducted Moira Jones and took her into Queens Park.

"There, in a most disturbing way, you held her captive in a holly bush before taking her further into the park where you inflicted extensive injuries to her head and neck, raped and murdered her leaving her half-naked body lying in the bushes.

"You robbed her of her belongings including her camera.

"Your conduct that night reflects a level of wickedness very rarely encountered."

Harcar was also placed on the sex offenders register and will be deported when he is freed.

Ms Jones's mother, Beatrice, said the family had set up a fund to help others who found themselves in similar situations, the Moira Fund.

Holding back tears outside the court she said: "She was robbed of everything she had to look forward to and we have been deprived of the pleasure of sharing her life.

"We are desperate that Moira be remembered for the very wonderful person she was and not for how she died.

"Moira, darling, darling Moira, we were so proud of you and we will do the best we can with our lives to make them worthy of you."

Harcar was caught after police questioned his former flatmate, Queens Drive resident Lucie Pechtlova.

She told them he had moved from Liverpool to Glasgow 10 days before Ms Jones's death to look for work.

Ms Pechtlova said Harcar had been drunk on the night she was killed and had gone out saying he was going to "go and find whores".

After the murder he fled to his native Slovakia, but detectives tracked him down and he was arrested in June.

Detectives found his black leather jacked was spattered with Ms Jones's blood.

He had her digital camera and a broken mobile phone that matched a part found in Queens Park.

Lord Advocate Elish Angiolini, prosecuting, said there was an "overwhelming and compelling" body of evidence against Harcar.

This included large quantities of DNA found on Ms Jones which matched his profile and CCTV footage placing a man matching his description in the Queens Park area on May 28.

She told the jury: "It is difficult to imagine a murder and rape more vile, more wicked and more barbaric than the evil visited upon Moira Jones."

Witnesses spoke of hearing screams coming from Queens Park that night, with one man turning to his partner and saying: "If someone's been murdered, we've just heard it."

Another man, who was walking his dog in Queens Park, heard a female voice shouting "stop it" and saw a man sitting looking into a holly bush.

Harcar lodged special defences of alibi and incrimination, claiming that if the crime was committed, it was carried out by convicted sex offender Jason Mulheron and brothers Mohammed Abubaker Karim, 21, and Mohammed Umar Karim, 22.

Mulheron, 37, was high on drink and drugs near the park on the night of the murder and was said to have confessed to "killing that lassie in the park" - a claim he denied.

The Karim brothers admitted breaking into Ms Jones's car on the night of the murder and stealing her credit card.

Paul McBride QC, defending Harcar, said there were "startling" similarities between previous sex offences carried out by Mulheron and the attack on Ms Jones.

He described the quality of the CCTV footage as "appalling" and said mistakes could be made with DNA.

But Ms Angiolini said there was "not a shred" of evidence against Mulheron.

She added that the Karim brothers were opportunistic thieves but not killers and that there was only one person responsible for the crime - Marek Harcar.

"He is the murderer, plain and simple," she told the jury.

Detective Superintendent Derek Robertson, of Strathclyde Police, who led the investigation, said he hoped today's convictions meant Ms Jones's family could begin to rebuild their lives.

He said: "This has been a very harrowing time for Moira's parents, brother, partner and friends.

"Their presence in court must have been extremely difficult as they heard the evidence unfold."

The officer added: "With the conviction of Marek Harcar, I hope that Moira's family can now move some way to rebuilding their lives."

And he went on: "I would like to commend the courage shown by her family and friends who remained fully supportive of the police throughout the investigation."

Mr Robertson also thanked people in the area of Glasgow where Ms Jones was murdered for their cooperation with the inquiry.

"As a crucial part of the investigation Queens Park was closed for a number of weeks which no doubt inconvenienced the local community," he said.

"The rape and murder of a young woman in a public park obviously caused a great deal of fear and concern for the local residents and in particular women who frequented the area.

"The local community and public in general have to be thanked for their cooperation, understanding and continual support all of which greatly assisted the investigation."

Ms Angiolini told the court two of Harcar's previous convictions were committed in the Czech Republic and the remainder in Slovakia.

In February 2000 he was sentenced to seven months in jail and in November 2005 he served a year-long prison term for theft by housebreaking.

He had no previous convictions of a sexual nature.

Ms Angiolini said Ms Jones had been taken from her extended, loving and close-knit family and her death had left them "bereft".

She said Ms Jones's brother Grant had to return from his life in Australia, her father Hugh could no longer pursue his career in teaching and her mother Bea was struggling to cope with the loss of her "beloved daughter".

Ms Angiolini added that Ms Jones's parents had listened to the evidence with "great difficulty and composure".

"Their grief is palpable and they describe her death as a living agony," she added.

Harcar's defence counsel, Paul McBride, was not in court today.

His deputy, Tony Lenehan, asked Lord Bracadale to backdate Harcar's sentence to June 18 last year, when he was taken into custody.

Sentencing Harcar, Lord Bracadale told him: "The seriousness of this murder accompanied by the abduction, rape and robbery must be reflected in a very long punishment.

"I order that you serve a period of 25 years."

This was met with whispers of "yes" from the public gallery.

Lesley Thomson, area procurator fiscal for Glasgow, said: "Harcar subjected Moira to a terrifying and cruel ordeal and, within days of his cowardly and violent attack, he fled to Slovakia in an attempt to escape the consequences of his crime.

"As prosecutors we, with the police, were determined that whoever committed this terrible crime - which shocked people across Glasgow - would not escape justice.

"Prompt, effective and professional police work, and excellent cooperation with the Slovakian authorities, saw Scottish prosecutors and police officers return him to this country to face trial."