NEWS: Honey Bunny Killer Cracks

Mark McLaughlin
Edinburgh Evening News
February 2, 2009

BRUTAL murderer Douglas Stockdale has cracked after being ordered to spend at least 17 years behind bars.

The 38-year-old - dubbed the 'honey bunny killer' - is refusing to see visitors in Saughton prison.

His lawyer has described his state of mind as "befuddled" and said he was struggling to come to terms with his long sentence.

The situation has led his legal team to plea for more time to try to get through to him before deciding whether to mount an appeal.

Stockdale was convicted of the murder of Lochend woman Alison Mack and the attempted murder of three other women.

But since he was sentenced last month the lawyers' repeated attempts to speak to him in prison have failed.

He strangled Alison, who was his girlfriend, in March last year and stamped on her head after she called him "honey bunny". He left the mother-of-two to die in the hallway of her friend's Lochend flat.

Convicted criminals are given 14 days to lodge an appeal, but his lawyers have been granted extra time because of Stockdale's mental state.

John Good, of Good & Stewart solicitors, said: "We have not been able to speak to him on the phone, have received no correspondence from him and we even went to the prison to see him and were told that he was too ill to see us.

"He's just been told he's facing 17 years in prison and he's coming to terms with it slowly.

"He's still a bit befuddled, so the extra time will give him a chance to settle in. The extra time allows us to keep his options open, but it doesn't necessarily indicate that he will necessarily take the option to appeal.

Jim and Nancy Mack, the elderly parents of murdered Alison, have hit out at the decision to grant extra time to consider Stockdale's appeal.

Mrs Mack, 77, said: "Too bad for him if he's having trouble adjusting to prison!"

Mr Mack, 80, added: "We had hoped the trial would be the end of it. All of the lawyers said he was given a fair trial, and his defence was totally incoherent so he didn't have a leg to stand on. If he ever gets his act together I hope he decides not to appeal and serves his time. However, as I said before, if it was up to me he would be in the ground right now for what he did."

During his trial Stockdale protested his innocence from the dock, shouting: "I'm innocent. It's been a stitch-up from the start."

But he was convicted of Alison Mack's murder and of the attempted murders of Afka Ray, Tracy Grady and Jennifer Thomson, together with assaults on Alison Mack and Jennifer Thomson.

Sentencing judge Lord Bracadale told him: "Alison Mack seems to have shown you affection over a short time period and for no apparent reason, other than an appalling loss of temper, you attacked her in a vicious manner."