'Callous' paedophile gets life term

Alan Cameron has been jailed for at least 25 years for murdering his fiancee
12 April 2012

A "callous" paedophile who murdered his fiancee, butchered her body and dumped the remains in bags has been jailed for life.

Shop worker Alan Cameron, 56, hid Heather Stacey's decomposing body at her flat for more than a year, then scattered the parts in public places around the north of Edinburgh.

His "inhuman" crime came to light when a dog walker found the 44-year-old's severed head near a footpath on Hogmanay 2008.

Cries of "yes" echoed around the High Court in Edinburgh on Wednesday, where Ms Stacey's relatives looked on as the judge passed a minimum sentence of 25 years.

Lord Matthews said: "She was a mother-of-four and no-one who saw the evidence of her daughter Danielle can be under any illusions as to the effect these appalling crimes have had.

"One can only imagine what she must have gone through when the discovery of her mother's remains was broken to her."

The judge told Cameron he had denied his victim any dignity in death.

He said: "For over a year you conducted a campaign of callous deceit, in order to convince others that Heather Stacey was still alive.

"You left her corpse to rot where she lay in an insect-infested flat and attempted to cut her limb from limb.

"Having failed in that enterprise you mutilated her remains by pulling them apart and then scattered them around in bin bags."

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