Donald Forbes (1935 – 12 April 2008) was a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

convicted

murderer Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification or valid excuse committed with the necessary intention as defined by the law in a specific jurisdiction. ("The killing of another person without justification or excuse ...

. Forbes was convicted and jailed on three occasions, twice for murder and once for drug offences. He was at one time branded as "Scotland's most dangerous man". Forbes was found guilty of murder in 1958 after a robbery at a fish factory in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

in which he killed night watchman Allan Fisher. Forbes was originally sentenced to the

death penalty Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence ordering that an offender be punished in s ...

but it was reduced to

life imprisonment Life imprisonment is any sentence (law), sentence of imprisonment under which the convicted individual is to remain incarcerated for the rest of their natural life (or until pardoned or commuted to a fixed term). Crimes that result in life impr ...

. 12 years after the offence Forbes was freed. Only weeks after being released Forbes committed murder again, this time in a pub during a brawl. He was jailed again; one year after the second imprisonment he escaped from the maximum security wing but was later recaptured. In 1980, he married Alison Grierson. He went on to serve 10 years in the Barlinnie special unit with notorious killers such as Jimmy Boyle. In 1998, he was released. In 2003 he was branded "Scotland's oldest drugs baron". At the age of 68 Forbes was arrested for preparing large quantities of

cocaine Cocaine is a tropane alkaloid and central nervous system stimulant, derived primarily from the leaves of two South American coca plants, ''Erythroxylum coca'' and ''Erythroxylum novogranatense, E. novogranatense'', which are cultivated a ...

and

cannabis ''Cannabis'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae that is widely accepted as being indigenous to and originating from the continent of Asia. However, the number of species is disputed, with as many as three species be ...

for sale. Forbes was caught after an anonymous tip off. Forbes died in hospital on 12 April 2008 with his son James Forbes at his side, while still serving his prison sentence. Double murderer dies in hospital
''BBC News''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Forbes, Donald 1935 births 2008 deaths People convicted of murder by Scotland People paroled from life sentence Prisoners sentenced to death by Scotland Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by Scotland Prisoners who died in Scottish detention Scottish people convicted of murder Scottish people who died in prison custody Scottish prisoners sentenced to death Scottish prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment 20th-century Scottish criminals