Scotland’s Johnnyboy: The Bird That Never Flew

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The fighting knife was also found at the scene but Steele claimed PJ had it and he’d never seen before. Clearly, the Justice Secretary cannot become personally involved in appeals regarding the re-opening of such cases, that would be a matter for the relevant authorities. For Johnny, whose escape bids contributed to him being dubbed ‘one of the most punished prisoners in the history of the British penal system’, 1980s Barlinnie was a powder-keg just waiting to blow. Some, including notorious multiple murderer Peter Manuel, never left Barlinnie’s grounds. The graves now raise the uncomfortable issue of exhuming their remains and finding a new location for burial. PJ, a promising chef chosen to cook for JK Rowling when he was 16, was killed after a fight outside a flat in East Kilbride on the day of Prince William’s wedding, April 29 last year.

Steele, 57, said: “The brutality of life in Scotland’s hardest prisons, even years of solitary as punishment for repeatedly breaking out in protest at the wrongful conviction, wasn’t enough to break me. In his 2011 inspection of the prison, HM Chief Inspector of Prisons Hugh Monro noted: “Barlinnie is well led and the staff have a good understanding of what they are required to do. Staff embrace change and are not afraid to lead the way in innovative practice.” Notorious for overcrowding and a slopping out system that only ended in 2005, infamous for its violence, ground-breaking Special Unit with controversial art therapy, convicted killer Jimmy Boyle’s dirty protest and its D Hall ‘hanging shed’, Barlinnie’s daunting walls and blunt chimney pots have carved a formidable sight on the east end skyline for 137 years. While most prisoners languished in miserable conditions, Barlinnie’s Special Unit took some of the most notorious and introduced them to an experimental regime of art, poetry and literature.

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If she says there is nowhere further to go then it becomes more serious. But I will just have to wait and see.

Calls for reform grew increasing loud. A wave of prison riots across the country arrived at Barlinnie in 1987, sparking Scotland’s longest prison siege. Inmates ripped apart its Victorian halls, others climbed on the roof with five staff hostages and posters claiming brutality. It was this weapon that would later be used to kill PJ. Steele again holds the fighting knife in his right hand.

John Steele was acquitted of murdering Paul “PJ” Douglass, 20, after claiming self-defence. He said PJ had a knife which he had never seen before.