An online petition to appeal the sentence given to the killer of Bonnyrigg Rose footballer Shaun Woodburn has been launched by the victim’s father and has gathered more than 13,000 signatures in one day.

Shaun suffered massive head injuries after being assaulted outside Gladstone’s Bar in Leith during the early hours of January 1 this year.

A 17-year-old youth who cannot be named for legal reasons had committed several other assaults during the night along with his friend Mohammed Zakariyah.

He had originally faced a murder charge but was convicted of the lesser offence of culpable homicide and yesterday Lady Stacey jailed the teenager for four years, with a supervision order of 18 months after his release.

The length of the prison sentence immediately sparked fury on-line with hundreds of people questioning the whole justice system in Scotland.

Writing on his online petition, Kevin Woodburn said: “Shaun was killed in a needless act of violence and if you agree that a four-year custodial sentence with an 18-month supervisory order does not represent justice, then please support our petition to the First Minister of Scotland, and the justice minister for Scotland, and finally the lord advocate.”

“Zakariyah, 19, was ordered to carry out 240 hours of unpaid work after he had plead guilty to two assaults and a breach of the peace in connection with the incidents.

A spokesman for the Crown Office said: “As with all cases, the Crown will consider the sentence and give consideration to whether it might be unduly lenient.”

 

 

 

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John graduated from Telford College in 2010 with an HNC in Practical Journalism and since then he worked for the North Edinburgh News, The Southern Reporter, the Irish News Review and The Edinburgh Reporter. In addition he has been published in the Edinburgh Evening News and the Hibernian FC Programme.

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