Richard Cassidy, 79, who was sentenced to life for murdering fellow pensioner David Farish, has died in jail. The Scottish Prison Service announced that Cassidy died at HMP Shotts on June 26. He had suffered a heart attack and stroke while in custody, but the cause of death has not yet been revealed.
Attack in the Scottish Borders
Cassidy stabbed Farish, 74, 14 times at Farish's home in the Scottish Borders in February 2016. The former soldier was sentenced to 17 years in prison at the High Court in Glasgow in June 2017. After the murder, Cassidy contacted the police and handed himself in.
Court details and sentencing
Cassidy's defence lawyer, Brian McConnachie, said Cassidy went to visit Farish to try to get a confession out of him but had no plans to kill him. McConnachie described the killing as a "moment of madness" and said most people found it "hard to understand" that the then-70-year-old would be capable of murder. He added: "He had never been in trouble in his life before this incident. He lived a fulfilling life until what he describes as a moment of madness in February 2016."
However, the judge, Lord Summers, described the murder as "particularly brutal" and said Cassidy showed premeditation on the day of the attack. He referred to a social work report that found Cassidy had received Special Forces training while in the Army on how to infiltrate groups by befriending them. When passing sentence, the judge took into account Cassidy's lack of previous convictions and what he had reportedly been told about Farish, as he passed a life sentence with a minimum term of 17 years. No charges had been brought against Farish.
