Latest news with #ScottishBorders
The Independent
14 hours ago
- The Independent
Man handed 18-year prison term for murdering partner in ‘savage' attack
A 32-year-old man has been sentenced to 18 years in prison for murdering his partner in a 'sustained and savage' attack. Corey Dryden repeatedly struck 31-year-old Megan Hughes on the head and body with a knife and claw hammer at her home in Chirnside, in the Scottish Borders, in the early hours of February 9 this year. The mother-of-two was stabbed 27 times in total. At about 2.15am, the couple's next-door neighbour was woken by the sound of a disturbance, and heard Ms Hughes repeatedly shouting for help and Dryden telling her to 'shut up'. Dryden dialled 999 at about 4.35am, but when paramedics arrived Ms Hughes was pronounced dead at the scene. The 32-year-old initially claimed Ms Hughes had attacked him and that he had acted in self-defence, but on June 27 he admitted murdering his partner. He was sentenced at the High Court in Edinburgh on Thursday. Sentencing Dryden, judge Lord Harrower said: 'In the early hours of Sunday February 9 you carried out a sustained and savage attack using a large kitchen knife and a claw hammer.' He said Ms Hughes had sustained stab wounds to the front and back of her chest, face, neck and left arm, and 'blunt force trauma' the front and back of her head. He added: 'Ms Hughes also sustained defence-type injuries to her left thumb and left wrist, indicating that she remained conscious and aware of what was happening during at least part of the attack.' The judge told Dryden his actions had caused 'terrible devastation' to Ms Hughes's entire family. 'Such was the nature of the injuries you inflicted, they were deprived of the opportunity to look at her face one last time,' the judge told him. 'No sentence of this court can alleviate their anguish.' The judge also recounted an incident in a pub on September 22 2024, just five months before the fatal attack, which saw police called. 'When they arrived they witnessed you shouting and swearing at Ms Hughes, calling her derogatory names,' he said. He went on: 'Ms Hughes had expressed a fear that you would kill her if she returned home that night. 'Ultimately those fears were realised.' Lord Harrower sentenced Dryden to life with a minimum term of 18 years in prison, saying 'the only sentence for the crime of murder is life imprisonment'. Dryden, who attended the hearing by videolink from prison dressed in a red jumper, showed no emotion as he was sentenced. Earlier, Dryden's advocate Lili Prais KC told the court he accepts 'full responsibility for the monstrous crime', and is 'deeply remorseful'. She read out a written statement from Dryden in which he said: 'No sentence I get will justify or bring closure to her family. 'The despicable, monstrous crime I have committed, I have turned everyone's life upside down. 'I will never be about to forgive myself, or accept the pain I have caused.' She added Dryden has little memory of what happened on the night of the attack, saying he had been under the influence of drugs and alcohol and that it had been a 'blur'. Commenting after the sentencing, Moira Orr, who leads on homicide and major crime for the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, said: 'Corey Dryden is a violent and dangerous man who murdered Megan Hughes in her home, where she had the right to be safe. 'After subjecting her to a horrific assault, he left his partner on the floor to die instead of calling for help. 'His cruel and callous actions have robbed Megan of her future and left her family and loved ones to deal with this unimaginable loss. Our thoughts remain with them. 'Dryden has now been held accountable following this prosecution, which should send a clear message to perpetrators of domestic abuse.' Police Scotland Detective Chief Inspector Laura White said: 'This was a vicious and calculated attack by Dryden that tragically resulted in Megan's death. 'His actions have robbed a family of their mum, daughter, granddaughter, sister and niece. 'Our thoughts very much remain with Megan's family and friends as they come to terms with what happened to her.'
The Independent
16 hours ago
- The Independent
Man who stabbed partner 27 times in ‘savage' attack jailed for murder
A man who stabbed his partner 27 times in a 'sustained and savage' attack has been jailed for 18 years. Corey Dryden, 32, murdered 31-year-old Megan Hughes in the Scottish Borders on 9 February. He repeatedly struck and stabbed her with a claw hammer and knife at her home in Chirnside. He then dialled 999 about 4.35am. Ms Hughes was pronounced dead at the scene. Dryden initially claimed that his partner had attacked him and that he had acted in self-defence. However, on 27 June, he admitted to her murder. Dryden attended the hearing, at the High Court in Edinburgh on Thursday, via videolink from prison. He showed no emotion as Lord Harrower sentenced him.
Sky News
16 hours ago
- Sky News
Man who stabbed Megan Hughes 27 times in fatal attack jailed for murder
A man who stabbed his partner 27 times before telling detectives "I did really love her" has been jailed for at least 18 years for the "vicious" murder. Corey Dryden, 32, fatally attacked mother-of-two Megan Hughes, 31, at their home in Chirnside, in the Scottish Borders, in February this year. The High Court in Edinburgh heard how Dryden was arrested by police soon after the assault and taken into custody. Prosecutor Tracey Brown said the killer claimed he couldn't remember what he had done and began weeping during his police interview, telling detectives: "I did really love her, you know." While in detention, Dryden was assessed by mental health professionals. When asked by a nurse how he would manage if he was released on bail, he reportedly replied that was "unlikely" as he had "hacked" his girlfriend to death. Dryden last month pleaded guilty to murdering Ms Hughes by repeatedly striking her on the head and body with a knife. The charge also contained details of how he repeatedly struck his partner with a hammer "or a similar object" during the attack. Dryden, appearing via videolink, was handed a life sentence with at least 18 years behind bars on Thursday. Defence advocate Lili Prais KC told the court that her client "struggles to comprehend" how he could commit such a crime. The court previously heard how the pair had known each other since childhood but became a couple in February 2024 before moving in together in the July of that year. Ms Hughes had two children from a previous relationship. In December 2024, Dryden was fined £300 at Jedburgh Sheriff Court for threatening and abusive behaviour towards Ms Hughes. Lord Harrower heard how on the day before the murder, Dryden sent text messages to friends and loved ones which showed how he was "struggling to manage his emotions within the context of the relationship". One message said he was trying "not to go mental", while another read: "I'm gonna do time, wish I was single." Ms Brown said at about 2.15am on 9 February, a neighbour was wakened by loud banging from the couple's home and could hear Ms Hughes repeatedly shout: "Please help me." The prosecutor added: "She also heard the deceased scream, and the accused say, 'shut up'. The neighbour was about to call 999 but things then quietened down." Dryden dialled 999 at about 4.30am and claimed Ms Hughes had stabbed herself after she had attacked him with a hammer. Officers who responded found Ms Hughes lying on the floor of an upstairs bedroom with a kitchen knife in her right hand. The emergency crews began CPR, but Ms Hughes was later pronounced dead. A post-mortem examination ruled the cause of death as stab wounds to the chest and neck. When being interviewed by police, Dryden claimed Ms Hughes "hated him" and they "argued every day". He said on the night of the murder the pair had each drunk around a bottle and a half of wine, despite Dryden being on painkillers for his leg. He also admitted to recently taking street valium. Dryden claimed Ms Hughes swung a hammer at him after he made a derogatory comment, but he blocked it with his crutch and disarmed her before striking her on the head with the weapon. Dryden admitted the murder, but claimed he had "blanked out" for an unknown period of time. He reportedly told officers: "It was like I was possessed." Detective Chief Inspector Laura White branded Dryden's attack "vicious and calculated". She added: "His actions have robbed a family of their mum, daughter, granddaughter, sister and niece. "Our thoughts very much remain with Megan's family and friends as they come to terms with what happened to her." Please refresh the page for the fullest version.
The Guardian
2 days ago
- Business
- The Guardian
Heritage groups try to save decaying modernist studio in Scottish Borders
A coalition of heritage and design groups has launched a last-minute bid to save one of the UK's most threatened modernist buildings after its owners put it up for auction. The late modernist studio was built in the Scottish Borders in 1972 for the textile designer Bernat Klein, whose fabrics were worn by Coco Chanel and Jean Shrimpton, and is widely regarded as a jewel of late 20th-century architecture. But the category A-listed studio, which won architectural awards for its designer, Peter Womersley, has been vacant for decades and is in severe disrepair, featuring on the Scottish buildings at risk register since 2002. To the surprise of heritage groups who had hoped to buy the property from them privately, its owners have put the building up for auction through the auctioneers Savills with an indicative price of £18,000. The listing has forced those groups to launch a fundraising appeal backed by the National Heritage Lottery Fund to try to buy it at auction on 28 July, potentially competing with other bidders who could push the price up. The coalition, which includes the National Trust for Scotland, the Scottish Historic Buildings Trust and the Bernat Klein Foundation, which promotes the textile designer's work and life, said it would then need to raise about £2.5-£3m to fully restore the studio. It is now vandalised, with smashed glass, rotting timber, crumbling concrete posts and barbed wire rolled along the balustrades of the elevated walkway that takes visitors into the building. Prof Alison Harley, chair of trustees for the Bernat Klein Foundation, said they had been in talks for months with the owners about buying the studio privately and were disappointed by the sudden decision to auction it. The coalition, which is supported by the Architectural Heritage Fund and the Twentieth Century Society, plans to return the building to its original purpose as a design studio and public education centre run by the foundation. She said the studio told 'quite a hidden story' about the two talents of Klein the designer and textiles visionary, who reinvented tweed design, and Womersley the architectural genius, who both made the Borders their home. The men were close friends and collaborators. 'They tell a 20th-century story of design and architecture together,' she said. The two-storey brick, concrete and glass studio sits close to Klein's home at High Sunderland north of Selkirk, which Womersley designed in the late 1950s, setting both in a carefully designed parkland. Womersley, already an established and sought-after designer, was partly inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright's famous modernist house Fallingwater in Pennsylvania, which is cantilevered over mountain streams. A winner of a Royal Institute for British Architects award and often listed among Scotland's finest modernist buildings, the studio was used by Klein to design his fabrics, make his textiles and receive clients. The buildings at risk register notes it is a 'very fine sculptural late modernist building' which, with its bold horizontal cantilevered concrete and 'finely framed vertical glazing', showed 'a monumental sensibility executed with sophistication and with great attention to detail'. Serbian-born Klein was one of the few members of his Orthodox Jewish family to survive the Holocaust having studied in Jerusalem during the war. He arrived in the UK in 1945 to study woven textiles at Leeds University, before setting up his firm Colourcraft in 1952 in Galashiels, the Borders town then at the centre of the region's thriving textiles industry. His abstract, colourful and often tactile designs won him clients including the fashion houses Balenciaga, Dior and Yves Saint Laurent, as well as commissions from the furniture firms G Plan and Heal's in London. He was also a colour consultant to the then Department of the Environment, an arm of the UK government. Dr Samuel Gallacher, director of the Scottish Historic Buildings Trust, which hopes to lead on the restoration of the building, said that attempting to buy it at auction was 'a real unknown'. But doing so would be a significant achievement. 'Thinking of Scotland's rich heritage of 20th-century architecture, much of which is at risk and is poorly adapted to our changing climate, this project can be an exemplar of how to save our modernist and brutalist buildings,' he said.
Daily Mail
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Princess Margaret's wild Monty Python night at the aristocrats' party revealed by BBC presenter
A 'very drunk' Princess Margaret once played a Monty Python song at an aristocratic gathering in the Scottish Borders, a former BBC presenter has revealed. The Queen's sister was described as being 'incredibly sloshed' as musicians danced around, according to former BBC presenter Steve Blacknell. The event was hosted by Colin Tennant, later 3rd Baron Glenconner, at his family's Glen House estate. His wife Lady Anne Coke was Princess Margaret's lady-in-waiting. At the time Blacknell was living with Scottish psychedelic folk band The Incredible String Band who were invited to the dinner. Speaking on the Time Capsule podcast, the 72 year old said: 'So there I am living with my heroes, one day the door opens in my little cabin and the drummer Jack [Ingram] comes in and he says 'we're off to have tea with some people so put your shoes on we're leaving in 10 minutes'. 'The row where they lived was in a place called Innerleithen in Peeblesshire, beautiful rolling hills and stuff, so about three quarters of a mile away was a castle which was owned by Colin Tennant. 'Now Colin Tennant was the guy who bought Mustique, the island, and was just an incredibly rich guy and he had this huge mansion thing. 'So we all traipse up there, we walk in and I can't believe I'm doing this with these people I adore so much and we can hear a piano playing so we get nearer and nearer and there plinking away on the piano, cigarette hanging out of her gob, is a very very very drunk Princess Margaret. 'So there she is with Roddy Llewellyn and they're all completely drunk... you're thinking what the hell is going on, I was only 21 or something. 'She starts playing on the piano, rather badly, 'I've got a ferret sticking up my nose' which is the Monty Python song and she said 'well come on then dance'. 'So just like dancing around a maypole me and these heroes of mine are dancing around an incredibly sloshed Princess Margret, to this day I still can't believe it.' Blacknell is best known for being an MTV Video Jockey as well as working in PR for several record labels, he is currently the CEO of the Central London School of TV and Media Training.
