A colleague of a slain police officer has called for notorious Dundee murderer and child rapist Robert Mone to die in jail.
Forty years have now passed since Patrick Anderson’s former colleague George Taylor was butchered by Mone and his gay lover Thomas McCulloch during their bloodbath breakout from the State Hospital on November 30 1976 which left three people dead.
Mr Anderson, from Letham in Angus, said “life should mean life” for Scotland’s longest-serving prisoner who remains in a high security establishment.
Mone had been sent to Carstairs after blasting pregnant teacher Nanette Hanson to death and holding her class hostage at his old school in Dundee.
He raped one child and molested another during the 1967 siege.
Mone still languishes in Glenochil prison 40 years on after being sent back to maximum security in 2008 after bosses suspected he was planning a jailbreak.
The Scottish Prison Service said any decision on Mone’s future release would be made by the parole board but it “wouldn’t be appropriate” to discuss individual cases.
Mr Anderson, who served with PC Taylor during his service in Lanarkshire, said Mone should never be released.
“Life should mean life and Robert Mone should die in jail,” he said.
“He is a danger to the public even now.
“He shot dead pregnant teacher Nanette Milne in 1967 at St John’s High School in Dundee then planned a murderous escape from Carstairs in 1976.
“Mone and McCulloch murdered another inmate and a male nurse in the process and went on to murder my former colleague Constable George Taylor.
“He also injured George’s colleague and as I recall he died early in life following his ordeal.
“I knew George well during my service in the Lanarkshire Constabulary and my wife and I met George’s widow and his family this year at the 13th annual Scottish Police Memorial Service of Remembrance at Tulliallan.
“In my opinion Mone should never be released.”
After crashing into a roundabout on the outskirts of Carlisle during their escape, Mone and McCulloch abandoned their getaway vehicle before attempting to hijack a fourth car but were caught by police.
At Edinburgh High Court, Mone pleaded guilty to killing the policeman and McCulloch the nurse and patient.
Mone and McCulloch were then jailed for life.
That decision was reversed in 2002, which eventually led to McCulloch being released in 2013.
Mr Anderson said: “I was at Carluke and George was at Carstairs and early in 1976 I went to Lanark Police Office and fuelled the patrol car and collected the mail.
“I asked George if he had seen the advert for a six-month secondment to the Scottish Home Office working in the police headquarters in Glasgow.
“He told me he wanted to join the Lanark CID and would not be applying.
“I did and took up the position in November of 1976.
“Ironically, I attended George’s funeral just days after starting my new post.”