{"id":263025,"date":"2025-07-14T01:45:14","date_gmt":"2025-07-14T01:45:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/263025\/"},"modified":"2025-07-14T01:45:14","modified_gmt":"2025-07-14T01:45:14","slug":"one-of-scotlands-most-notorious-double-child-killers-released-from-jail-after-being-caged-for-almost-50-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/263025\/","title":{"rendered":"One of Scotland’s most notorious double child killers released from jail after being caged for almost 50 years"},"content":{"rendered":"

ONE of Scotland\u2019s most notorious double child killers has been released after being locked up for nearly 50 years.<\/p>\n

Alexander Millar bludgeoned a young brother and sister to death<\/a> with a hammer during a botched robbery <\/a>in 1976 in a crime<\/a> which shocked Scotland<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"FROM<\/a><\/p>\n

7<\/p>\n

Alexander Millar bludgeoned a young brother and sister to death with a hammer during a botched robbery in 1976\"COLLECT<\/a><\/p>\n

7<\/p>\n

Irene McMonigle was brutally bludgeoned to death by Alexander Millar when he broke in to steal a TV\"COLLECT<\/a><\/p>\n

7<\/p>\n

John McMonigle was murdered by Alexander Millar\"Headline:<\/a><\/p>\n

7<\/p>\n

Heartbroken Elizabeth McMonigle with baby snaps of her tragic siblings Irene and John<\/p>\n

Millar was considered so dangerous that he was held for 49 years in a string of secure mental health facilities including the State Hospital <\/a>at Carstairs, but has been deemed fit for release following a Mental Health<\/a> tribunal in England<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The tribunals are held every year or so to review the detention of people in secure psychiatric care who are legally classed as patients, and not prisoners<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Despite previous hearings ruling Millar must not be released on the grounds of public safety, a tribunal has now granted his discharge.<\/p>\n

Relatives of his victims have spoken of their \u201cextreme distress\u201d at his release.<\/p>\n

READ MORE ON THE SCOTTISH SUN<\/p>\n

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\u2019s<\/a> Govan in January 1976 to steal the family\u2019s television<\/a>. <\/p>\n

He also indecently assaulted Irene.<\/p>\n

The children<\/a> were discovered amid a scene of absolute horror<\/a> by their younger sister Liz and father John senior, who had left their Govan tenement for just a few minutes to take some belongings to a new house which they were moving into nearby.<\/p>\n

Liz, 58, who moved to the north of England several years ago, said:<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is an animal and it repulses and sickens me that he has been freed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe anxiety and extreme distress this brings cannot easily be put into words. We will never get over what he did.<\/p>\n

Teen girl’s chilling social media posts before she was charged with double murder of mom & stepdad following eulogy<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is an absolute animal and the injuries<\/a> he inflicted on a little boy and girl, my beloved brother and sister, were the worst you could imagine.<\/p>\n

\u201cTwo 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 forever. He is the worst of the worst.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe brought so much misery to so many people\u2019s lives, including my late father, John, who is dearly missed to this day.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the High Court<\/a> in May 1976, Millar was ordered to be detained without limit of time.<\/p>\n

He was charged with murder<\/a> but admitted culpable homicide on the grounds of diminished responsibility. <\/p>\n

Judge Lord Wheatley described his crimes as \u201cmost terrible\u201d.<\/p>\n

Millar spent almost 30 years in the State Hospital at Carstairs before being transferred to a secure psychiatric unit in Ayrshire<\/a> where he was then held for around 15 years.<\/p>\n

\"PICTURE<\/a><\/p>\n

7<\/p>\n

Alexander Millar is shown hiding his face after he was captured for the murders of the two children\"MURDER<\/a><\/p>\n

7<\/p>\n

The murder scene in Golspie Street, Govan in 1976 where the tragic siblings were killed\"Headline:<\/a><\/p>\n

7<\/p>\n

Murderer Alexander Millar has been freed after 50 years<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

He was moved to a secure unit in England in 2022 in a move which the McMonigle family always feared could pave the way for his release into the community.<\/p>\n

Such cross-border transfers can be used as part of a pathway for release, and a source close to the case said: \u201cBeing 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s understood Millar, 78, was released several months ago, with news of the move emerging just now. <\/p>\n

His location has not been disclosed, although he is understood to be in the south of England.<\/p>\n

Read more on the Scottish Sun<\/p>\n

A spokesman for the Ministry of Justice said: \u201cThis 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<\/a> Act 1983. We cannot comment on decisions made by the independent judiciary.\u201d<\/p>\n

A spokeswoman for the Judiciary of England and Wales said: \u201cWe cannot comment on individual cases.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ONE of Scotland\u2019s most notorious double child killers has been released after being locked up for nearly 50…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":263026,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5009],"tags":[748,30,188,1102,918,4884,209,29265,529,712,5120,5119,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-263025","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-scotland","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-courts","10":"tag-crime","11":"tag-edinburgh","12":"tag-glasgow","13":"tag-great-britain","14":"tag-longtail","15":"tag-murderers-and-serial-killers","16":"tag-police","17":"tag-scotland","18":"tag-scottish-crime","19":"tag-section-newsscottish-news","20":"tag-uk","21":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114849063121771139","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263025","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=263025"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263025\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/263026"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=263025"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=263025"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=263025"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}