By Chris Hardy

THE LORD Advocate has lodged an appeal against the sentence imposed on Joseph Harrison, the Brechin farmhand who killed a young mother from Aberdeen.

Harrison pled guilty at the High Court in Aberdeen to the culpable homicide, on the grounds of diminished responsibility, of Susan Third.

On August 3 he was given a nine-year extended sentence, including six years in prison.

The Lord Advocate has the right of appeal against a sentence he considers unduly lenient.

Harrison, who strangled Miss Third and dumped her half-naked body in a field, was jailed by judge Lord Abernethy, sitting at the High Court in Edinburgh.

The sentence also includes a three-year supervision period upon release.

The judge said, “Nothing that I can do, of course, can bring Susan Third back to life.

Her death is a tragedy for all concerned, particularly her family and friends, and their sense of loss is a continuing one which I fully recognise.”

But the family of 21-year-old Miss Third reacted with outrage at the “disgraceful” sentence handed down to her killer.

Harrison (29) killed Miss Third after losing control when she offered him a sexual favour in an Aberdeen street.

He put her body into the boot of his car on the night of February 26-27 last year and drove to a field near Catterline.

Harrison later phoned his pregnant girlfriend and said, “I have killed somebody.”

The father-of-three was originally charged with murder but his plea of guilty to the reduced charge of culpable homicide was accepted by the Crown.

The judge said the sentence was appropriate for the “very unusual case.”

He said he took into account everything said on Harrison’s behalf, including his plea of guilty, and said the sentence must not be seen in any way as putting a value on Susan’s life.

But the family vowed to fight on through the courts.

After the sentencing, a family spokeswoman said they had already obtained legal aid for a challenge to the Crown’s acceptance of the guilty plea to culpable homicide.

“The sentence has made us more determined to fight for the rights of working girls,” the spokeswoman said.

The family has set up a website seeking the legalisation of prostitution and drugs, believing Miss Third would be alive today if they had been legal.