SENTENCING STATEMENTS

A judge may decide to publish a statement after passing sentence on an offender in cases where there is particular public interest; where a case has legal significance; or where providing the reasons for the decision might assist public understanding.

Please note that statements may include graphic details of offences when it is necessary to fully explain the reasons behind a sentencing decision.

Once charges are spent, any statement in relation to them is removed and cannot be provided or acknowledged. Statements published before the launch of the website may be available on request. Please email judicialcomms@scotcourts.gov.uk.

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When deciding a sentence, a judge must deal with the offence that the offender has been convicted of, taking into account the unique circumstances of each particular case. The judge will carefully consider the facts that are presented to the Court by both the prosecution and by the defence.

For more information about how judges decide sentences; what sentences are available; and matters such as temporary release, see the independent Scottish Sentencing Council website .

Read more about victims of crime and sentencing.

HMA v David Livingstone

Oct 29, 2025

At the High Court in Stirling, Lord Mulholland imposed a sentence of life imprisonment on David Livingstone for the murder of Gordon Stirling. The offender must spend a minimum period of 19 years in prison before he can apply for parole.

On sentencing, Lord Mulholland made the following remarks:

“David Livingstone, you have been convicted of murdering Gordon Stirling who was doing no more than driving a bus to Glasgow as part of his employment. He was providing a service to the public. You having decided to take your own life drove your van onto the opposite carriageway on the A77 at speed and into the front of the bus. Such was the energy at the point of the collision, your van was embedded in the front of the bus.

Two passengers were injured. The driver was propelled from the driver’s seat into the area behind the driver’s seat reserved for buggies and wheelchairs. Whist he was awaiting the paramedics, he phoned his father to let him know what had happened to him. This call must have been so distressing to receive as would be the fight for his life as he lay in a hospital bed. His friends and family sat with him, never leaving his side as his life slipped away. Their grief and loss are fully documented in victim impact statements handed to me. They are heartbreaking to read. You are responsible for all this. You have visited a life sentence of grief and loss on them.

You did this intending to take your own life. This was so selfish of you to try and take your own life by taking the life of another. A young man with his whole life ahead of him, loved and now mourned by his family. What you did was evil. You thought only of yourself. You were full of self-pity. You cared nothing of the consequences for Gordon Stirling and his family. Your intent was to kill yourself, and you didn’t care about the consequences for the driver and passengers on the bus. You have shown no remorse.

There is only one sentence for murder. You are hereby sentenced to life imprisonment.

I am required by law to fix a punishment part which is the time you have to serve before you are eligible to apply for parole. I say apply, as there is no guarantee you will ever be granted parole. That is a decision for the parole board alone to take.

I fix the punishment part at 19 years’ imprisonment.

I will order that the sentence should run from 19 October 2023, the date you were first ordered into custody by the court for this matter.”

29 October 2025