Double killer Billy Ferris dies in custody at HMP Low Moss, Glasgow
Billy Ferris, 75, who was serving a life sentence for the murder of 15-year-old Jason Hutchison, has died in custody at HMP Low Moss near Glasgow.
Double killer Billy Ferris dies at HMP Low Moss
Billy Ferris, a 75-year-old convicted double murderer and older brother of former Glasgow gangland enforcer Paul Ferris, has died in custody at HMP Low Moss near Bishopbriggs, East Dunbartonshire, glasgowlive.co.uk reports.
The Scottish Prison Service (SPS) confirmed Ferris died in prison on Thursday. An SPS spokesman told the Sunday Mail: "Every death, whether in prison custody or in our communities, is a tragedy for all those who knew and supported the individual. Following the death of someone in our care, Police Scotland are advised, and the matter reported to the Procurator Fiscal."
Ferris, whose full name was William Chalmers Ferris, was jailed for life in 2003 for the murder of 15-year-old Jason Hutchison in Irvine, Ayrshire. He had repeatedly stabbed the boy while he slept in his bed in 2002. It later emerged the killing was carried out by mistake — Ferris had intended to target Jason's 18-year-old brother David, whom he blamed for punching his wife Carol Anne in the face.
It was not his first conviction for murder. Ferris had previously served time for a killing in Corby, Northamptonshire in 1977, before being released in 1999.
The cause of his death has not been established. The SPS spokesman confirmed that a Fatal Accident Inquiry will be held in due course, as is mandatory for all deaths in prison custody, though such inquiries can take years to be convened.
Ferris was the older brother of Paul Ferris, once the feared enforcer of crime lord Arthur Thompson — long referred to as Glasgow's "Godfather" — who died in 1993. Paul Ferris has since left criminal life behind, becoming an author and relocating to Ayrshire. He had previously spoken publicly about being drawn into organised crime through his father, who was an armed robber.
Source: The Sun