Victim's family 'disgusted' by
lenient murder sentence
(From The Orcadian dated October 18, 2001)

Handcuffed killer Paul Bullen is led away from Edinburgh High Court to serve a minimum nine years for murdering Kirkwall man Thomas Miller in May this year. (Picture: Ciaron Donnelly)

The sentence handed down to the killer of Orcadian Thomas Miller has come under fire from the victim’s brother.

Paul Steven Bullen (21), was jailed for life for murder – with a recommendation he serve a minimum of nine years – at Edinburgh’s High Court on Monday.

Kirkwall man Thomas “Tommy” Miller (47) died following a drunken attack in a bedsit at 22 Bignold Park Road in the town. He suffered 47 fractures to the body - 21 of those to the ribs – making it impossible for him to breathe. Only one rib was left unbroken following the vicious attack.

Now his brother David Miller has expressed his “utter disappointment, if not disgust” at what he described as the leniency of the sentence.

Mr Miller contacted The Orcadian from Antigua, a holiday which had been booked for some time in the hope that the case would have been resolved sooner.

“I am sure I am speaking for the whole family and also all Tommy’s friends and indeed any sane minded person, when I register my utter disappointment, if not disgust, at the leniency of the sentence which has been handed out.

“We had been assured that the minimum term before being considered for early release would be at least 12 years, even this seemed to be not enough given the severity of the attack.”

Mr Miller said it was up to each individual to make up their own mind, although he felt the Scottish justice system is failing the victims of crime and their families.

“Our MSP (Jim Wallace) is supposed to be the justice minister for Scotland, I wonder if he feels that Tommy, who was one of his constituents, has received the justice that was due to him.”

Mr Wallace was, only a few weeks ago, leading a campaign for tougher sentences for persistent, violent criminals, he said.

“If this is his idea of tough sentencing policy then I am afraid he is out of touch with the majority of people who he will be looking to vote for him in the next elections for the Scottish Parliament,” Mr Miller said.

In response, Mr Wallace stressed that while he sympathised with the family, he could not comment on individual sentences.

“That is a matter for the judge who has heard all the evidence,” he said.

Only this month the law changed governing the release of life prisoners. From October 8, it will be up to a High Court judge in open court to decide how long a life prisoner requires to serve to satisfy the requirements of retribution and deterence – not government ministers and politicians behind closed doors.

“It is important that judges exercise their role without interference from ministers or politicians of any kind. I sympathise considerably with Mr Miller and I have taken up a number of points he has already raised with me, but it is not politicians who sentence people.”

Bullen appeared for sentencing on Monday at the capital city’s High Court. He had pled guilty at an earlier hearing.

This is the first Orkney death to result in a murder verdict since Victorian times more than 100 years ago.

The former oil worker was kicked to death following an all-day cider and vodka binge, temporary judge Roderick Macdonald QC heard.

Bullen alleged that Tommy Miller had tried to “feel up” his girlfriend and added “I must have kicked him harder than I thought.”

Another man who had taken part in the all-day binge slept through the frenzied attack, tripping over Mr Miller’s lifeless body when he woke up.

The court heard that Bullen had been taken from his drug-addict mum when he was ten and spent the next five years in foster care. After a spell in detention he moved to Orkney \m where his dad was living \m to try to make a new start.

But father and son fell out and Bullen ended up in the SACRO hostel in St Catherine’s Place, Kirkwall.

The court heard that Mr Miller was a drinking friend of the mother of Bullen’s girlfriend, Sarah Norquoy.

Advocate depute Gerry Hanratty, prosecuting, said there had been an incident in May when Mr Miller was supposed to have made advances towards Sarah, when he was drunk.

She told her boyfriend and another friend, Ronald Moir.

On May 29, the couple and Mr Miller were drinking in Mr Moir’s bedsit when the matter came up again. Also, the court heard, Mr Miller began to play with the tassels hanging from the front of Sarah Norquoy’s trousers.

Bullen punched Mr Miller but was stopped from going any further.

The court heard how another man appeared to have calmed things down. But when the other man left Mr Moir’s bedsit, Bullen locked his girlfriend outside, then began to attack Mr Miller again.

After some time, she was allowed back in and saw Mr Miller covered in blood. She told Bullen to clean the man up and he poured hot water over his victim’s face.

After they left, about 9pm, the body was discovered by Mr Moir.

Police later caught up with an hysterical Sarah Norquoy who told them: “He tried to take my trousers down and the whole place went berserk.”

Bullen, told by friends that police had put tape outside the flat at 22 Bignold Park Road because there had been a murder, went to see for himself.

He told police on duty there: “I must have kicked him harder than I thought. I have got steel toecap boots on.”

Interviewed later, he said he had not meant Mr Miller to die but accepted he had kicked him a number of times and had also jumped on his victim.

The court heard that Mr Miller died because 21 fractures to his ribs had made it impossible for him to breathe. Doctors performing a post mortem found 47 bone fractures and other “less significant” injuries.

They also found that Mr Miller had a drinks level almost four times the legal limit for driving.

At an earlier hearing, Bullen pleaded guilty to murdering Mr Miller on May 29 \m after allegations that he poured scalding water on the man during the attack, put a bed settee on top of him, then jumped on the settee, were deleted from the charge.

Advocate Jock Thomson QC, defending, said Bullen had always intended to plead guilty and face up to what he had done.

The lawyer said that the row over Mr Miller’s pass at Sarah seemed to have been resolved. “It would seem that because of Mr Miller’s further attention - I put it no higher than that - matters unfortunately, tragically and fatally developed.”

Mr Miller, who was separated with two grown-up children, worked at the Flotta oil terminal until made redundant several years ago. He had also recently gained a computing qualification.

His murder was the first in Orkney since a masked attacker gunned down a Bangladeshi waiter in June, 1994, sparking what was then the first murder inquiry in the county for 25 years.

Unlike the Bullen case, the killer of 26-year-old Shamsudden Mahmood is still at large.