SENTENCING STATEMENTS

On sentencing Lady Poole made the following remarks in court:

"Jamie Walter Boulton, on 9 September 2024 you were convicted by the jury at Edinburgh High Court of the crime of murder.  Nathan David Boulton, you were convicted on the same day of the crime of attempting to defeat the ends of justice. 

On 6 June 2023, Garry O’Neill lost his life because you, Jamie Walter Boulton, stabbed him. Your victim was vulnerable as he was at the time a resident in hospital, and just out for a few hours.  You armed yourself with the largest knife available to you.  You ran into a flat where your victim was sitting on the couch.  You stabbed him in the side as he sat there.  The knife went in up to the hilt.  Your victim died from internal damage due to the deep stab wound you inflicted.  Afterwards, you ran off, but then came back to retrieve the knife to try to cover your tracks.  Then you went off to change your clothes, and made yourself scarce from the scene of the crime. 

Meantime you Nathan David Boulton, for reasons best known to yourself, took the clothes your brother had been wearing and the knife with which he had stabbed Garry O’Neill.  You were caught on CCTV depositing the knife at a drain, and also at a public bin where the clothing was found. 

Victim impact statements from Garry O’Neill’s daughter and ex partner show he was loved, and is missed.  His family have been deprived of a person they were attached to.  Nobody deserves to have their life ended in this way.

I have taken into account everything said for you both in mitigation. 

Jamie Walter Boulton, you are 55 years old.  Your evidence that somehow your victim jumped onto the knife was preposterous, and unsurprisingly rejected by the jury.  It is no surprise your record of previous convictions contains numerous offences of dishonesty.  You have an appalling criminal record, having now been convicted in Scotland on 44 previous occasions over the last three decades.  Your offences include serious offences of violence, previous knife crime, and a number of sentences of imprisonment.  

You cancelled two appointments for a criminal justice social work report to be prepared for this case, so a fresh report is not available.  However, the court has an earlier report prepared in 2022 with considerable information about you in it. It is clear you had a difficult childhood.  You appear to have obtained some qualifications at school then went on into work.  You consider that an accident when you were 18 and an apprentice roofer, in which you shattered your knee, has led to your lifelong addiction problems since then. You have had other tragedies in your life, such as a partner dying in a car accident.  Broadly speaking your life has been one blighted by addiction, with an escalating history of offending, culminating in the present offence of murder.

There is only one sentence for murder. I sentence you to life imprisonment.  The punishment part I fix is 18 years. That 18 year period represents the time necessary to satisfy the requirements of retribution and deterrence.  In setting the punishment part I have taken into account the seriousness of your offence, your previous convictions, and also the bail aggravation.  This does not mean this is a sentence of 18 years.  It means you will serve at least 18 years before you can be considered for release on parole.  Your sentence is life imprisonment.  It will be for the Parole Board to determine whether you will ultimately be released, and they will consider the safety of the public in reaching that decision.  Your sentence is backdated to 8 June 2023 when you were first remanded in custody.

Nathan David Boulton, in Scotland you have only been convicted on one occasion, for offences of assaulting or hindering the police and racially aggravated harassment, in respect of which you received a financial penalty.  When you were interviewed by the police in this case you said that you had disposed of the knife and clothes, and said sorry you don’t know what you were thinking.  Nevertheless, the case proceeded to trial, and the jury found you guilty of attempting to defeat the ends of justice. 

The criminal justice social work report prepared in respect of you discloses that you display little insight into your offending, and have sought to downplay the seriousness of your actions.  I note that you also had a difficult childhood.  You left education at 14 or 15 to take up a job.  You have worked in England and Scotland, including in hospitality.  You were exposed to illicit substances from the age of 7, and developed problems with addiction.  You have spent time in rehabilitation, and had periods of stability, as well as periods of relapse.  Your older brother’s influence has not been positive for you.  You have 7 children, with whom you have limited contact, the youngest of which is 18.  You spend time when at liberty supporting your elderly mother, who has health issues. 

The court takes a very serious view of attempts to defeat the ends of justice, and the sort of attempts to dispose of evidence you made must be punished.  You are 49 years old and have never before been sentenced to prison in Scotland.  Nevertheless, given the nature and seriousness of the crime of which you have been convicted no other method of dealing with you is appropriate.  I impose a sentence of 14 months imprisonment on you, which will be backdated to 1 September 2024, to take into account an initial period of 4 days on remand, and your time in prison since conviction on 9 September 2024”.