Notorious Govan double child-killer released in southern England

Times

a day ago

One of Scotland's most notorious double child-killers has been released after being locked up for nearly 50 years.
Alexander Millar, 78, bludgeoned a young brother and sister to death with a hammer during a botched robbery in 1976.
Millar was considered so dangerous that he was held for 49 years in a string of secure mental health facilities including the State Hospital at Carstairs, but has been deemed fit for release following a mental health tribunal in England.
The tribunals are held every year or so to review the detention of people in secure psychiatric care who are legally classed as patients, rather than prisoners. After previous hearings that ruled Millar must not be released on the grounds of public safety, a tribunal has granted his discharge. Relatives of his victims have spoken of their 'extreme distress' at his release.
Millar, then 29, tied up his two young victims, John, 13, and Irene McMonigle, 12, gagged them and beat them to death after breaking into their house in Glasgow's Govan in January 1976 to steal the family's television. He also indecently assaulted Irene.
The children were discovered by their younger sister Liz and father, John Sr, who had left their Govan tenement for just a few minutes to take some belongings to a nearby house into which they were moving.
Liz, 58, who moved to the north of England several years ago, said: 'He is an animal and it repulses and sickens me that he has been freed.
'We have no right to know where he is, or even if he is alive or dead. I retain to this day a fear and dread that he will somehow come after me, no matter how unlikely it may seem. The anxiety and extreme distress this brings cannot easily be put into words. We will never get over what he did.
'He is an absolute animal and the injuries he inflicted on a little boy and girl, my beloved brother and sister, were the worst you could imagine. Two beautiful souls were taken from us in the most unimaginable way. What I saw all those years ago haunts me every single day. It will live with me for ever. He is the worst of the worst.
'He brought so much misery to so many people's lives, including my late father, John, who is dearly missed to this day.'
At the High Court in May 1976, Millar was ordered to be detained without limit of time. He was charged with murder but admitted culpable homicide on the grounds of diminished responsibility. Lord Justice Wheatley described his crimes as 'most terrible'.
Millar spent almost 30 years in the State Hospital at Carstairs before being transferred to a secure psychiatric unit in Ayrshire, where he was held for about 15 years.
He was pictured attending a community gardening scheme in Ayr in 2012 as part of attempts to reintegrate him into society but was subsequently denied repeated appeals on the grounds that he remained dangerous.
He was moved to a secure unit in England in 2022 in a move that the McMonigle family always feared could pave the way for his release into the community.
Such cross-border transfers can be used as part of a pathway for release, and a source close to the case said: 'Being released in Scotland might not have been practical as his crimes are remembered to this day, particularly by people who were part of the close-knit community in Govan at the time.'
It is understood that Millar was released several months ago, and news of this has only now come to light. His location has not been disclosed although he is understood to be in the south of England.
A spokesman for the Ministry of Justice said: 'This decision was made by the independent First-tier Tribunal (Mental Health) in accordance with legal tests for discharging mentally disordered offenders under the Mental Health Act 1983. We cannot comment on decisions made by the independent judiciary.'
A spokeswoman for the judiciary of England and Wales said: 'We cannot comment on individual cases.'