Family's fury as Brit child killer walks free after almost 50 years in unit

A notorious killer who bludgeoned a brother and sister to death has been freed almost five decades after his heinous crimes.

Alexander Millar, 29, tied and gagged John McMonigle, 13, and his sister Irene, 12, before beating them to death with a hammer during a botched robbery at their home in Govan, Glasgow in 1976. While there, he also carried out an indecent assault against the 12-year-old girl.

Millar avoided prison but washeld in secure mental health units for 49 years, where he was technically classed as a patient rather than a prisoner. This classification meant that him being detained was reviewed regularly, unlike in the prison system, but he was found so dangerous he couldn't be released for almost five decades.

READ MORE: Southend Airport plane crash UPDATES: Four people dead after aircraft exploded

READ MORE: 'Our parents are stuck in jail abroad - their trip of lifetime turned into hell'

Now a mental health tribunal in England has deemed he is fit for release.

Relatives of the victims say they have been left suffering "extreme distress" after he was freed. In 1976, after the horrendous attacks, the children were discovered amid a scene of absolute horror by their younger sister, Liz, and dad John, who had left the kids in their tenement while they took some belongings to a new house in Pollok.

Liz, 58, who moved to the north of England several years ago, said: “He is an animal and it repulses and sickens me that he has been freed. We have no right to know where he is. I retain to this day a fear and dread he will somehow come after me, no matter how unlikely it may seem. The anxiety and extreme distress this brings cannot easily be put into words. We will never get over what he did.

“He is an absolute animal and the injuries he inflicted on a little boy and girl, my beloved brother and sister, were the worst you could imagine.

“Two beautiful souls were taken from us in the most unimaginable way. What I saw all those years ago haunts me every single day. It will live with me forever. He is the worst of the worst.

“He brought so much misery to so many people’s lives, including my late father, John.”

Liz said: “I still have my brother’s watch and scarf and a chain of Irene’s with a little medal with a saint on it.

“There’s not much left of my brother and sister but they will never be forgotten. John was always smiling. He was popular in school and he loved football. Irene always wanted to be a nurse and she was like my mum.

“It was just my dad who was bringing up the three of us. Irene was like the mother figure. They should still be here.

“We lived in Golspie Street in a top single-end and were excited at the thought of moving into our new three-bedroom flat with a proper kitchen, a bathroom and living room. My dad took me with him as we went to the new flat. We got the bus home and got to our close which was in darkness as the man hadn’t been to put the gas lamps on in the close yet.

“The scene when we went into the flat and found John and Irene was unspeakable.

“The memory of my dad trying to save them also lives with me.”

A huge police investigation was launched and the Sunday Mail put up a reward of £1000 for information.

More than 200 detectives were assigned to the case, many working 14-hour shifts as they checked over 3000 houses in the area.

Millar, a petty thief, emerged as a suspect although it took police several months to build a case. It included breaking an alibi he had concocted, claiming he had been at an address in Easterhouse.

He was charged with murder but admitted culpable homicide due to diminished responsibility and at the High Court was ordered to be detained without limit of time.

He spent almost 30 years in the State Hospital at Carstairs before being transferred to a secure psychiatric unit in Ayrshire for 15 years.

He was pictured attending a community garden scheme in Ayr in 2012 as part of attempts to reintegrate him into society but was subsequently denied repeated appeals on the grounds that he remained dangerous.

He was moved to a secure unit in England in 2022 in a move which the McMonigle family always feared could pave the way for his release. Such cross-border transfers can be used as part of a pathway for release.

A source close to the case said: “Being released in Scotland might not have been practical as his crimes are remembered to this day, particularly by people who were part of the close-knit community in Govan at the time.”

Millar was released this year, with news of the move emerging just now. His location has not been disclosed although he is understood to be in the south of England.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Justice said: “We can’t comment on decisions made by the independent judiciary.”

A Judiciary of England and Wales spokeswoman also declined to comment.