The mother of an 11-year-old schoolboy who was abducted and murdered in Strabane, Co Tyrone, five years ago said yesterday she feared her son's killer could be released from his life sentence.
Ms Kathleen Hegarty said she was "devastated" by the news that Brian Doherty, who was jailed for life for bludgeoning her son, Kieran, to death in a field on the outskirts of Strabane in 1994, could be released under Scottish law.
Shortly after he was jailed for life, Doherty, who is also from Strabane, was transferred to the top-security Carstairs Psychiatric Hospital in Lanarkshire.
He has been granted leave to apply for freedom under the Mental Health (Scotland) Act.
Under the Act another convicted killer, Noel Ruddle, was freed last July after he successfully claimed in court that his illness could not be treated in Carstairs.
Doherty is now claiming an absolute discharge under Sections 64 and 65 of the Act. His three-day appeal has been fixed for next November.
"I am hoping and praying every day that his release will be stopped," Ms Hegarty said.
"I have spoken to his mother, who told me she couldn't cope with him coming home either.
"At the time of Kieran's death, the other children in his school were all afraid to go out in case Doherty would come at them. What is this going to do to those children now? You can't tell a child that they will be OK. They will live in fear.
"I'm living in fear, because I fear if he does get out that he will head for our house to get revenge on us.
"It is a very distressing time for us.
"He should be kept inside for the rest of his life. What he did was a terrible thing. He took my son away from me and he shouldn't be allowed to walk the streets of Strabane or anywhere else again."