EXCLUSIVE: Partner of murdered Paisley dad slams Scottish Government response to death
Stacey McClelland's boyfriend Craig was stabbed to death by James Wright near their Foxbar home in July last year.
Last updated 4th Dec 2018
The partner of a murdered Paisley dad is exclusively telling Clyde News she is sickened by the Scottish Government’s lack of action following his death.
Stacey McClelland's boyfriend Craig was stabbed to death by James Wright near their Foxbar home in July last year.
Wright has a violent past and was out on license at the time of the attack He’d broken off his electronic tag.
"Craig was the kind of person who picked people up when they were down - emotionally and physically."
Speaking out for the first time the mum-of-three is calling for a public inquiry into the circumstaces surrounding 31 year-old craig's murder.
_"There's a list of 34 questions that remain unanswered"_
The family met with Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf earlier this week but Stacey says the talks were unproductive.
Listen to our reporter Natalie Crawford's full interview with Stacey:
Stacey said: "You think that it couldn't get any worse, that your boyfriend was murdered... then to find out it could have been prevented... there's no words out there to descripe what that feels like.
"I don't think there is justice at all, I don't think it exists, but if you're refering to the closest thing to it then yeah, justice still needs to be done. Mistakes were made and people need to be held accountable.
"The public should have been protected. The Scottish Government and the Justice Secetary are supposed to protect the pubic and they failed in Craig's case.
"They never answered a single question we asked. There's a list of 34 questions we have as a family and Humza Yousaf never answered any of them.
"Cutting your electronic tag off is not a crime... that is ridiculous. It makes so sense at all.
"It was premeditated. Someone was going to die that night."
"Sixteen previous convictions and someone has let this guy out thinking he won't be a threat to the public, you really need to think about that for a second.
"He Humza Yousaf always goes on about 'lessons will be learned' but how can we learn from lessons if he won't answer the questions?
"In order to learn from your mistakes you need to admit them. That's the starting point.
"That night if Craig didn't go out someone else was going to be murdered. It was premeditated. Someone was going to die that night.
"It could have been your partner, your son or daughter, uncle, auntie, niece... anybody.
"Craig represents the public.
"They system does not work and it needs to be looked at. It should never have been this way."
Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf said: “I thank the McClelland family for meeting again with me and representatives of the prison service and police. I listened very carefully to their concerns and will consider carefully the questions they have raised.
"Sixteen previous convictions and someone has let this guy out thinking he won't be a threat to the public, you really need to think about that..."
“The Scottish Government is determined to support the family and to ensure lessons are learned and improvements are made.
“Following publication of the two independent inspectorate reports into the Home Detention Curfew scheme, I previously met the family and advised that the Scottish Government, the Scottish Prison Service and Police Scotland accepted all of the reports' recommendations. This includes considering making it a specific offence to remain ‘unlawfully at large’.
“Our focus is on ensuring that relevant agencies, along with government, make real and demonstrable changes and I have asked both Inspectorates to review this progress in six months’ time.
“I will update the family shortly on these developments."