John Mackie, who was jailed for life in 2007 for bludgeoning former police officer Mike Mosey, 58, to death in Braehead, near Forth, in North Lanarkshire, died in prison of a slash wound to his throat.
Mackie was released on licence in August 2021, but a manhunt was launched when he vanished amid claims he broke the terms of his parole, and he was returned to prison in 2022. He died in June at HMP Shotts aged 53, and prison logs have now revealed he died from an “incised wound of the neck”, which is “pending investigations”. The death is not thought to be suspicious.
Background of the murder
Mr Mosey, who was retired from the force, was beaten to death in his own home by Mackie in August 2006. Lord Hardie described the killing as a “frenzied and unprovoked attack upon a vulnerable man”.
The killer was sentenced to 18 years in jail, which was then reduced to just 13 years on appeal. The family’s ordeal was raised at Holyrood in 2018 after they were sent a letter saying he was to be granted temporary release that coincided with the anniversary of the murder.
Recent developments
Last month, the family won a fight to move Mr Mosey’s body from a graveyard where they fear his killer could be buried. The Scottish Prison Service said Mackie’s death had been reported to the Procurator Fiscal, and a Fatal Accident Inquiry would be held into the circumstances in due course.
A Scottish Prison Service spokeswoman said: “Every death, whether in prison custody or in our communities, is a tragedy for all those who knew and supported the individual. Following the death of someone in our care, Police Scotland are advised, and the matter reported to the Procurator Fiscal. Fatal Accident Inquiries are held in due course.”
In a separate case, prison logs also revealed that Donna Marie Brand, who died while serving 17 years for the murder of 14-year-old Caroline Glachan in 1996, had a form of sleep apnoea as a factor in her death at HMP Stirling in August this year.
