A thug who repeatedly stabbed his teenage victim before dumping his body in a stream was jailed for life on Wednesday.

David Barker also took victim Robbie Thomson's mobile phones so he had no way of calling for help.

Ordering Barker, 25, to serve at least 19 years before he can apply for parole, judge Lady Clark of Calton said he had shown a complete lack of humanity.

She expressed sympathy towards Robbie's mum, Lorraine Scofield - who is demanding an inquiry into why Barker was free to kill after flouting an earlier court order and tearing off an electronic ankle tag.

Mrs Scofield, 41, left the High Court in Edinburgh after the hearing without further comment.

An earlier trial heard how Barker and 17-year-old Robbie had argued in a lonely spot near the Coupar Burn between Greenburns Farm and Thorn Alley in Coupar Angus.

Stabbed

One witness claimed the row had been about money owed for a couple of packets of cigarettes. Another claimed they had fallen out over a girl.

A jury heard how Barker attacked Robbie, of Brodies Yard, Queen Street, Coupar Angus. He seized him, push him against a barbed wire fence then stabbed him 11 times - inflicting three potentially fatal wounds.

After rifling through Robbie's pockets, Barker dragged him down an embankment and threw him into Coupar Burn. Medics told the trial that Robbie was still alive when he was thrown into the burn because there was water in his lungs.

During the trial Barker admitted he was responsible for the teenager's death on March 26 last year - but his offer to plead guilty to culpable homicide was rejected and the jury convicted him of murder.

Passing sentence, Lady Clark told Barker, of Japp Square, Coupar Angus: "From the evidence I am satisfied this was a most wicked and brutal attack."

Isolated

The judge said the attack had taken place in a "lonely and isolated place" and added: "You deprived him of any means of calling for help. You showed no humanity."

She added: "He was a young man and suffered a brutal and horrifying death at your hands."

Petty criminal Barker had aquired a lengthy list of previous convictions but his record did not include any serious offences of violence.

On the night of the murder he had been at a party at Robbie's home. He was accused of tying up and raping a 19-year-old woman there but the charge was found not proven.

Shop worker Robbie had returned to Scotland from Australia just weeks before his tragic death at the hands of a man who was supposed to be his friend.

http://news.stv.tv/scotland/198860-thug-jailed-for-life-for-stabbing-teenager-to-death-and-dumping-him-in-burn/?