Ernest Barrie (born 1955) is 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 ...

killer who killed a man after having previously had his conviction for

robbery Robbery is the crime of taking or attempting to take anything of value by force, threat of force, or use of fear. According to common law, robbery is defined as taking the property of another, with the intent to permanently deprive the person o ...

quashed with help from the '' Rough Justice'' programme, which investigated supposed

miscarriages of justice A miscarriage of justice occurs when an unfair outcome occurs in a criminal or civil proceeding, such as the conviction and punishment of a person for a crime they did not commit. Miscarriages are also known as wrongful convictions. Innocent p ...

. Convicted of robbing a branch of the

Clydesdale Bank Clydesdale Bank () is a trading name used by Clydesdale Bank plc for its retail banking operations in Scotland. In June 2018, it was announced that Clydesdale Bank plc's holding company, CYBG, would acquire Virgin Money for £1.7 billi ...

Blantyre Blantyre is Malawi's centre of finance and commerce, and its second largest city, with a population of 800,264 . It is sometimes referred to as the commercial and industrial capital of Malawi as opposed to the political capital, Lilongwe. It is ...

in 1986, his conviction was quashed on appeal in 1989 after expert analysis of the

CCTV Closed-circuit television (CCTV), also known as video surveillance, is the use of closed-circuit television cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place on a limited set of monitors. It differs from broadcast television in that the signa ...

concluded that the robber was not Barrie. Subsequently, in July 2007, he attacked and killed his 38-year-old neighbour Alan Hughes in his flat in

Gorbals The Gorbals is an area in the city of Glasgow, Scotland, and former burgh, on the south bank of the River Clyde. By the late 19th century, it had become densely populated; rural migrants and immigrants were attracted by the new industries and e ...

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

, inflicting 47 injuries upon him in a 15-minute long attack. He pleaded guilty to

culpable homicide Culpable homicide is a categorisation of certain offences in various jurisdictions within the Commonwealth of Nations which involves the homicide (illegal killing of a person) either with or without an intention to kill depending upon how a pa ...

in 2009.

Biography

Barrie was convicted of robbing a branch of the Clydesdale Bank in Blantyre,

Lanarkshire Lanarkshire, also called the County of Lanark (; ), is a Counties of Scotland, historic county, Lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area and registration county in the Central Lowlands and Southern Uplands of Scotland. The county is no l ...

, of £40,000 in 1986 and sentenced to 18 years' imprisonment. He was released on interim license in 1989 after serving three years. An investigation by ''Rough Justice'' had previously found that the robber caught on CCTV was not Barrie, as his facial features and height differed from the perpetrator's. Barrie appealed his case based on this evidence, and his conviction was overturned by an appeal court on 10 March 1989, with

Lord Advocate His Majesty's Advocate, known as the Lord Advocate (), is the principal legal adviser of both the Scottish Government and the Crown in Scotland for civil and criminal matters that fall within the devolution, devolved powers of the Scottish P ...

Baron Fraser telling the justices that the Crown was no longer seeking to support the conviction. The 1987 episode of ''Rough Justice'' which featured his case was titled "Evidence in Camera". In 1998 his son Ernest fell into the

River Clyde The River Clyde (, ) is a river that flows into the Firth of Clyde, in the west of Scotland. It is the eighth-longest river in the United Kingdom, and the second longest in Scotland after the River Tay. It runs through the city of Glasgow. Th ...

300 yards (274 metres) from the family home and died. The ''Rough Justice'' team sent him flowers and a card. In July 2007 Barrie beat his neighbour to death at his flat at 305 Caledonia Road,

, Glasgow, with his downstairs neighbour calling the police after hearing the violent attack take place over 15 minutes. When they arrived they found the man in a pool of blood and although he was then still alive he bled to death. Barrie had inflicted 47 separate injuries with a knife, a toilet cistern lid, a walking stick and a metal pole during the prolonged attack. Barrie was charged with murder but pleaded guilty to the reduced charge of culpable homicide, and psychiatrists agreed that he was suffering from a psychotic illness. Sentencing, the judge said: "This is a very serious crime and a lengthy custodial sentence is the only possible sentence. I also have to make sure the public is protected from you after you are released". He was sentenced to nine years' imprisonment and was also ordered to be supervised for three years after his release from prison.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barrie, Ernest Living people 1955 births 1986 crimes in the United Kingdom 1986 in Scotland 1987 in Scotland 1989 in Scotland 2007 in Scotland 2008 in Scotland 2009 in Scotland Overturned convictions in Scotland BBC television documentaries British crime television series Investigative journalism Crime in Glasgow Organised crime in Scotland 1998 in Scotland Crime in Scotland Overturned convictions in the United Kingdom 1980s in Glasgow 2000s in Glasgow Criminals from Glasgow People from Glasgow British male criminals Scottish criminal law 1989 in British law 2007 in British law 2008 in British law 2009 crimes in the United Kingdom Trials in Scotland Murder trials in the United Kingdom 1980s trials 2000s trials