CONVICTED KILLER WAS LEADING A DOUBLE LIFE

Published 24 Sep 2009 10:04

THE partner of a convicted killer who escaped justice for five years claims she had no idea about his evil past.

Stewart Brown failed to turn up for a court date in 2004 after he was charged with stabbing a taxi driver during a vicious robbery.

The 34-year-old ex-bouncer could not be traced at his listed address in Glasgow's east end after a warrant was issued for his arrest.

It was only in May this year, that police finally found him at his family home just a twenty minute drive from his old house.

In that time he had managed to secure a lucrative new job and fathered two children with his partner.

One source told the News: "She has no idea about his past.

"This has come as a massive shock to her, the kids, and the rest of the family.

"It seems he was living a double life and this has devastated her - she doesn't know what to do next"

Brown finally met justice at the High Court in Glasgow last week as he was jailed for four years and three months after he admitted to the robbery and the failure to appear.

A judge expressed shock that it took so long for someone living an open life to be discovered.

The attack happened in the early hours of July 26 2003 after Brown had finished a shift at the Villager Pub in Cumbernauld.

The court heard he stayed behind after last orders and downed a staggering amount of vodka and lines of cocaine.

He later got into Craig Paterson's taxi and told him to drive to a non-existent address before asking the cabbie to go Glasgow.

They eventually stopped at a dead end in Cambusdoon Road in the city's Craigend where Mr Paterson then felt what he thought was a punch.

He realised his neck was bleeding and that his passenger was clutching a knife.

Brown screamed at him to hand over the money before Mr Paterson tried to push him out the vehicle.

He managed to flee the scene with £63 in cash as the cabbie screamed for help.

A witness later spotted Brown standing at a nearby tenement and alerted police.

Officers found more than £50 on him and also seized the knife but Brown claimed he had done nothing wrong.

His lawyer said dad-of-three Brown had no recollection of the attack, which left his victim scarred for life.

Murray Macara QC, defending, also told how Brown had not been aware of the trial in 2004 as a letter had been sent to his listed address in the city's Shettleston but he had earlier moved to Paisley.

Mr Macara added Brown made a new life for himself in the years that followed dodging justice while earning £2,000-a-month as a joiner and becoming a dad to two new children.

He was only arrested in May this year after a warrant check was carried out when police were called to a row he had with his girlfriend at their home in Main Street, Neilston.

The court heard Brown had a previous conviction for culpable homicide in 1995.

The judge told him: "I can take into account rather unusually that over the last five years, your life seems to have altered radically.

"However, I have to also take into account that this was a really nasty offence. People who drive taxis have to be protected from attacks like this."

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This article appeared in Barrhead News 23 Sep 09

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