‘Brutal’ Coupar Angus killer gets life

Sep 24 2010 by Denis Brown, Perthshire Advertiser Friday

A REMORSELESS and brutal killer who stabbed a teenager 11 times before dumping him in a burn to drown has been jailed for life.

At the High Court in Edinburgh, Judge Lady Clark sentenced Coupar Angus man David Barker (25), to serve 19 years in prison before being eligible for parole, saying he was guilty of a “wicked and brutal attack”.

An earlier High Court trial in Dundee heard Barker had argued with his victim, Robbie Thomson (17), in a remote location near the Coupar Burn between Greenburns Farm and Thorn Alley.

The dispute, allegedly over a packet of cigarettes or a girl, took place in the early hours of March 26 last year after the pair had left an all-night party at the victim’s Coupar Angus shared house.

Robbie, who had just started working in a Perth shop after returning to Perthshire from Australia where his family had emigrated, was said to be on good terms with Barker.

But the jury at Dundee heard that after shoving Robbie against a barbed wire fence, Barker launched a frenzied attack with a single-edged 12-inch knife, stabbing his victim 11 times.

Injuries on Robbie’s body, recovered by police divers later that day after he was reported missing, included several defence wounds where he had tried in vain to protect himself.

The court heard that before lobbing his still conscious victim down an embankment and into the burn, Barker rifled his pockets, stealing his mobile phone.

Detectives investigating the horrific crime, which shocked the Coupar Angus community, never recovered the murder weapon.

Barker, who admitted killing Robbie but denied his actions constituted murder, was found guilty last month, with sentencing deferred pending a risk assessment.

It transpired the killer was a habitual petty criminal, sentenced to detention and imprisonment 10 times by the age of 23, with offences including road traffic violations, breaches of the peace and flouting of court orders.

Only days before the murder, Barker had removed a court-enforced electronic ankle tag, prompting Robbie’s devastated mother, Lorraine Scofield, to demand an explanation from justice secretary, Kenny MasAskill.

At the earlier trial, Barker’s plea of culpable homicide was rejected and the jury convicted him of murder.

The jury returned a not proven by majority verdict on a separate rape charge.

Repeating the court’s sympathy to Robbie’s family on Wednesday, Lady Clark said the evidence had satisfied her “this was a most wicked and brutal attack”.

“You deprived him of any means of calling for help. You showed no humanity,” she said.

Tayside Crime Management Inspector Jim Smith, who as Detective Sergeant was deputy lead officer on the Barker case, said justice had been done.

“Barker’s actions were brutal and extreme and he showed absolutely no remorse during his contact with police or any mercy when he left his victim to die in a burn.”

He said the tragedy was a worst-case demonstration of what could happen when people carried knives.

Colleague Detective Constable Rosie Mann, another key member of the 60-strong investigation team, said she had talked to Robbie’s mother in Australia and in person during the investigation.

“I’ve met Robbie’s mother several times and she has a lot of questions, especially as the murder appeared to be motive-less,” she said.

“The nature of the crime, an attack on an innocent victim, who by all accounts was a genuinely nice, quiet shy young boy, affected all of us.

“I did all the interviews with Barker and initially he denied any involvement before eventually admitting some responsibility.

“He was very distant and didn’t seem remorseful, almost as if we were speaking to him about a trivial matter, acting nonchalant, kind of matter of fact.”

She said any murder impacted on a community, but in this case, with Coupar Angus being so small, the impact and distress had been much more profound.

“We’re certainly pleased with the sentence Barker receieved, particularly for the family, who have been through so much,” she said.