Shamed former SNP Chief Executive Peter Murrell will be joining some of Scotland’s most notorious prisoners behind bars while he awaits sentence for embezzling party funds.
HMP Edinburgh, better known locally as Saughton Prison, has housed violent men and women across the country since it first opened its doors more than a century ago.
One of its most high profile residents is “Limbs in the Loch” killer William Beggs who is serving life for murdering 18-year-old supermarket worker Barry Wallace in Kilmarnock in December 1999 and then dumping his body parts in various locations including Loch Lomond.
Beggs recently took staff at the jail to court claiming his human rights were breached over the handling of his mail.
He said some was late or damaged and an Amazon parcel was refused. However the case was dismissed by a judge
Another notorious resident is 31 year old Alexander Pacteau who is serving life for murdering 24-year-old Irish trainee student student Karen Buckley in Glasgow in April 2015.
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Pacteau beat Karen to death in his car with a spanner then tried to dissolve her remains in caustic soda after meeting her outside a night club in Glasgow’s West End.
Pacteau was accused last July of having a mobile phone in his cell at the prison but the charge was dropped.
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Donald McAvoy half brother of Scots Hollywood star James McAvoy‘ is currently awaiting sentencing for slashing a fellow inmate during visiting time at Saughton last October.
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A number of people convicted of violence relating to last year’s gang war in Edinburgh and Glasgow are in Saughton.
They include Logan Carlin, 24, who set fire to a beauty salon in Edinburgh linked to city crime boss Mark Richardson.
The incident on March 6 was among the first in the gang war involving the feuding Daniel and Lyons crime clans.
Carlin was arrested as part of Police Scotland’s Operation Portaledge – an initiative set up to tackle gangland violence – and jailed for more than seven years in February at the High Court in Edinburgh.
The prison has also seen incidents and violence linked to the conflict in the past year including an attack on a Richardson associate. It is also a jail where violence is never far away.
A recent report found that Saughton had the second highest number of weapons seizures among the country’s jails with 455 since 2020. Only Low Moss in Bishopbriggs near Glasgow had more.
Last year a prisoner set free from Saughton on the Scottish Governments early release programme described conditions there as “Hell on Earth”.
The 41-year-old complained harsher sentences for sex offenders were fuelling the rise in the prison population.
The first-time con, released after serving four months of a ten month sentence for drug driving, added ” I’ve been assaulted by people “There’s not enough for prisoners to do.
“It’s overcrowded. I’m traumatised.”
The jail has also housed a large number of sex offenders over the years including serial killer Peter Tobin.
Tobin was convicted of the murders of Angelika Kluk, Vicky Hamilton and Dinah McNicol and died while a prisoner there in 2022.
Iain Owens and Paul Brannan were also housed at HMP Edinburgh after being convicted in the horrific “Beastie House” paedophile ring case.
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Another Saughton inmate is transgender prisoner Isla Bryson, formerly Adam Graham, who was jailed for eight years for raping two women following a trial at the High Court in Glasgow in 2023.
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Saughton has four halls: Glenesk, Hermiston, Ingliston and Ratho.
Ratho houses the Vulnerable Prisoner Unit – which separates sex offenders from the general population who might harm them.
The facility has a capacity of 870 but is often overcrowded.
Inmates have access to in-cell landline telephony to call approved numbers.
The Scottish Prison Service (SPS) allocates 200 free call minutes per month to help prisoners maintain contact with loved ones.
Families can also register for video-link sessions via the SPS Virtual Visits platform.
Murrell also joins a long list of famous and infamous Saughton inmates from the past.
They include naked rambler Stephen Gough who was repeatedly imprisoned for public nudity.
Scottish sculptor and artist Eduardo Paolozzi was held there for three months during World War II because of his Italian heritage.
While former Scottish Socialist party MSP Tommy Sheridan served part of a six-month sentence for preventing a poll tax warrant sale at the Edinburgh jail.
A prison insider said:” A lot of people think modern jails are a cushy number.
“But Peter Murrell will soon discover that is not the case.
“Saughton is as tough as it gets in the Scottish prison system.”
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