Royal pardon bid for suicide man who failed to clear his name over Glasgow murder

Mr McIntosh, a former shipping container industry worker, told his family he "felt let down by the legal system" after fighting in vain to clear his name after another claimed to the the killer.

His son, 25-year-old Grant Wilson, who was just two when his dad was jailed and had been suffering from depression, also committed suicide in December, last year, with the family blaming the double tragedy on the miscarriage of justice.

Father and son

Relatives took their case to the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission in an attempt to get a posthumous pardon with support from the Glasgow-based Miscarriages of Justice Organisation which said McIntosh's death was a scandal.

But the family received a major blow when the SCCRC last year decided not to refer the case back to the High Court saying they do not believe a miscarriage of justice had taken place and backed the court's view saying they were not persuaded that additional confession evidence was "significant".

Evidence revealed Mr McIntosh's co-accused, Stephen Harkins, from Johnstone, Renfrewshire, who had been cleared of the murder by majority verdict, had boasted about being the real killer before and after the trial but this was deemed inadmissable by appeal judges in 1994.

By the time of an appeal and after an intervention by Scottish Secretary Donald Dewar in 1997 which allowed the confessions to be considered by the court, there were seven affidavits, including one from prison officer William Blake, saying that Mr Harkins had boasted about being the real murderer. But Mr Harkins died in January 1999.

Over a year later Lord Coulsfield dismissed the appeal, and questioned the admissions, saying Harkins was regarded, by other prisoners and by prison officers, as "boastful, a nuisance and a person who was in the habit of indulging in bravado".

Mrs Mackay, devastated that what she thought was the last chance to clear her son's name through the SCCRC, turned to Nicola Sturgeon to for help, and was offered possible hope as her letter was passed to the Criminal Justice Division.

A picture of father and son has pride of place at Mrs McKay's home

Ronnie Fraser of the CJD told Mrs Mackay: "The Scottish Ministers do retain a power to recommend the exercise the Royal Prerogative of Mercy (RPM) an extraordinary instrument which historically has been used to pardon or remit punishment in exceptional cases in which the due process of the law has produced a result that clearly involves an unjust conviction or punishment for which that process has no remedy. It is exercised in Scotland by the Queen on the advice of the First Minister.

"As a matter of policy, the Scottish Ministers will not consider the issue of whether the RPM would be appropriate if the petitioner has not first taken his or her case to the SCCRC."

The division said that if she wanted to apply for a pardon she should enclose the SCCRC's statement of reasons for refusing the further appeal and set out why she considered why, despite that decision, the conviction "was clearly unjust".

She was, however, warned that Scottish ministers have never recommended RPM since the SCCRC was established in 1999.

Mrs Mackay said: "All I have ever wanted is justice for my son and to clear his name. Stephen Harkins admitted to various people, including a prison officer that he committed the murder. My son is an innocent person found guilty of a crime that he did not commit.

17 year old John McIntosh, who then went by the surname McLay. Pic taken in 1992 at Glasgow High Court re. murder of Stephen McDermott

"I've been waiting too long and once I got this letter and there seemed to be hope and I had to go for it. I just felt that someone was listening."

The Glasgow-based Miscarriages of Justice Organisation who have described what happened to Mr McIntosh as a "scandal" are continuing to back the family fight.

Paul McLaughlin from Mojo said: "We fully support her in trying to seek justice for her son. We have exhausted the normal routes and been unsuccessful. We would still be open if anyone came forward with new evidence that would allow this to go back to the appeal court.

"We wholeheartedly believe in John's innocence."

In a statement to the family, the SCCRC had said that Harkins was "fireproof" with regards to the offence as he could not be re-prosecuted for the murder and could not be prosecuted for perjury.

The SCCRC said: "In other words he was free to make any admissions he wished to make about that offence without fear of being punished for that offence or for an offence or for an offence relating to his actions at his trial for that offence...

The body said the appeal court noted he was a "boastful character" and that as soon as it appeared there "might be adverse consequences to him... he appeared to disassociate himself from his admissions".

The SCCRC noted that the court did observe that the evidence "could not simply be dismissed as incredible and unreliable. And there was "an argument that the court concluded that the evidence was, at the very least, capable of being regarded as credible and reliable by a reasonable jury".

But the SCCRC added: "In any event, as the critical issue at trial was whether it was McIntosh or Harkins who stabbed the deceased, the ultimate question was whether the additional evidence is likely to have had a material bearing on, or a material part to play in, a reasonable jury's determination as regards which accused stabbed the decease.

"The commission noted the evidence against the accused; it noted the comments the trial judge made concerning 'the addition of any further material evidence'. Within that context, and having regard to the particular nature of the additional evidence under discussion, the commission was not persuaded that the additional evidence was significant."

Four years ago, at the age of 37, Mr McIntosh said he had tried to kill himself three times as a result of "the torment of what happened" and pledged to leave "no stone unturned" in fighting the case, including taking a lie detector test if necessary to prove his innocence.

He and his co-accused blamed each other for the murder, with both said to have been "full of jellies" – a reference to the drug temazepam – at the time.

The judge, Lord Prosser, told the jury during the 1993 trial that there appeared to be substantial evidence against Harkins, who had already used his knife on another man that night. Only one person had stabbed Mr McDermott.

But there was also blood on a distinctive jacket said to have been worn by McIntosh.

The jury found the murder charge against Harkins – then 22 – not proven, while McIntosh was found guilty.

It was in December, 1997, that Mr Dewar referred the case to the Court of Appeal in a landmark ruling that resulted in the statements being considered. New laws allowed evidence that come to light after a conviction to be admitted as grounds for appeal.

That evidence included a statement from Mr Blake, a prison officer in Greenock Prison, who said Harkins told him McIntosh was serving life for a murder he had not committed.

It did not occur to him to tell senior officers immediately and he refused to give an affidavit at first as he feared harm would come to him, court papers show.

He eventually made a statement after Harkins died in January 1999.

Other evidence was provided by two convicted murderers and a robber serving eight years.

In April, 2000, Lord Coulsfield while dismissing the appeal, questioned the admissions, saying Harkins was regarded, by other prisoners and by prison officers, as "boastful, a nuisance and a person who was in the habit of indulging in bravado". A year after the ruling, Mr McIntosh was released on "interim liberation".

He told the Herald four years ago when talking about his attempt to clear his name: "My back was broken around the eighth year in prison, when I used to pray to God please, please, please, let me out of here. When I was finally released from prison I played Runrig going home and cried all the way.

"The case has been on my mind every waking hour like a dull headache that never goes away. I have never used a knife, never carry a knife then now or at any time in my life. I will fight my case to my dying breath."