A convicted murderer from Perthshire is being sued for £160,000 by his victim’s son in what a judge branded a “very unusual” civil claim.
David Methven maintains that he was unable to continue to live at the family home he had shared with his 80-year-old mother Janet, who was known as Jenny, following her brutal killing by family friend William Kean.
Mr Methven, from Dunning, near Perth, is now claiming compensation from Kean, who was jailed for life and ordered to serve at least 22 years after he was found guilty of the murder.
He is suing for the grief and sorrow caused by his mother’s death after finding her, horribly injured, at their cottage near Forteviot in February last year.
In his defences to the civil action Kean maintains he did not murder or injure Mrs Methven and that he is the victim of a miscarriage of justice.
The court was told that Kean has gone to the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission, which looks at alleged miscarriages of justice.
Mrs Methven was struck repeatedly on the head and body with “a blunt instrument” and she died from the severe injuries caused to her head and forearms.
In the civil action Kean’s lawyers accept he was convicted of the murder, for which he is serving his sentence at Perth Prison, but maintain his innocence.
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