A grieving stepdad has branded as crazy the possibility that the drug addict who killed Timothy Wallace could became a father while in jail.
Kevin Gibson, 34, was given a life sentence in 2004 for the brutal murder of Mr Wallace, 24, from Gala Park, Galashiels. He was killed at a hostel in Leith and his body crammed into a suitcase and tossed into the Water of Leith.
Gibson has to spend 15 years behind bars before being considered for release.
But Gibson and his wife Louise, 32, from Kelso, who were married in jail last year, have started a court action to allow them to have sex in prison in order that they can start a family. IVF is also an option. The Scottish Legal Aid Board is funding part of the couple’s conjugal rights bid.
The dead man’s stepfather, Martin Edmunds, 52, from Galashiels, blasted the move.
He told TheSouthern: “This is crazy, it is mental. He gave up his rights to father children when he did what he did, and how he did it.
“He was sent to prison as a punishment and when you go there you lose many of your privileges, and becoming a father is one. I am trying to work out how he can seriously be considered a suitable candidate for fatherhood.”
Judge Lord Dawson told Gibson when he was sentenced: “No words of mine can bring Timothy Wallace back to life. No words of mine can adequately express the public revulsion for your behaviour towards him, your friend.
Mr Edmunds told us: “ Yes, Timothy had problems, but because of what he [Gibson] did we will never know what he might have been. That was taken away. The privilege of being a father is reserved for people who behave – not for people who behaved like he did. He removed a young life.”
The bid by the Gibsons is under human rights laws.