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Ryan Esquierdo jailed for killing Stuart Walker in Cumnock | Ryan Esquierdo jailed for killing Stuart Walker in Cumnock |
(about 1 hour later) | |
A teenager who admitted killing a gay barman who had tried to comfort him over his confused sexuality has been jailed for 12 years. | A teenager who admitted killing a gay barman who had tried to comfort him over his confused sexuality has been jailed for 12 years. |
Ryan Esquierdo, 19, choked 28-year-old Stuart Walker to death at an industrial estate in Cumnock on 22 October last year before setting his body alight. | Ryan Esquierdo, 19, choked 28-year-old Stuart Walker to death at an industrial estate in Cumnock on 22 October last year before setting his body alight. |
He pleaded guilty to culpable homicide, after prosecutors accepted his claim of diminished responsibility. | He pleaded guilty to culpable homicide, after prosecutors accepted his claim of diminished responsibility. |
Esquierdo will be monitored for five years after his release from custody. | Esquierdo will be monitored for five years after his release from custody. |
During a previous hearing, the High Court in Glasgow was told how Esquierdo and Mr Walker had been out separately in Cumnock on 21 October last year. | |
Chance meeting | |
They later met each other "by chance" as they made their way home in the early hours of the following morning. | |
Esquierdo was lying on a wall apparently asleep when Mr Walker woke him and the pair then walked together towards the town's Caponacre Industrial Estate. | |
Prosecutor Andrew Brown QC said Mr Walker - who was openly gay - and Esquierdo then shared a conversation about the teenager's sexuality. | |
The court was told how Esquierdo previously had a number of girlfriends, but that his sexuality had been "the subject of discussion by his friends". | |
Mr Brown said: "Stuart Walker was only sympathetic with (Esquierdo's) conflicted position. | |
"The accused described feeling safe talking to Mr Walker." | |
The pair subsequently became intimate, which was consensual, but Esquierdo started to panic. | |
The court heard claims that Esquierdo had been sexually abused as a boy and that the situation he found himself in with Mr Walker induced "flashbacks". | |
Mr Brown said this triggered an "uncontrollable rage" within the teenager and that Mr Walker was on the receiving end of "extreme and explosive violence". | |
The advocate-depute added: "The deceased would have had no warning or sense of what was going to happen." | |
Victim strangled | |
Esquierdo bit, punched, kicked and stamped on Mr Walker, who was of far greater build than his attacker. | |
He then strangled his victim for about four minutes until he was dead. | |
Mr Brown told the court: "There is (CCTV) footage which may be the accused setting fire to his jacket, which he placed on the deceased's body." | |
Esquierdo texted his friend Mary-Ann Dykes after the incident, claiming he and another boy had "just got jumped". | |
Miss Dykes arrived at the scene and met Esquierdo, who had been described as "a total wreck". | |
She found Mr Walker's charred body and stamped out flames on a piece of fabric at his shoulder. | |
Esquierdo called police and again claimed to an officer that there had been an attack by others and that Mr Walker had been set on fire. | |
The teenager was examined and initially released, but was detained for the killing days later following investigations. | |
The court was told psychologists had provided reports prior to the hearing and it was accepted that Esquierdo was suffering from diminished responsibility at the time. | |
It was concluded that post-traumatic stress disorder had sparked the brutal attack on Mr Walker. | |
'Senseless killing' | |
At the High Court in Glasgow on Thursday, temporary judge Rita Rae QC sentenced Esquierdo to 10 years and three months for the killing. | |
She added another one year and nine months after he also admitted to a charge of attempting to defeat the ends of justice. | |
Judge Rae said Mr Walker had been the victim of "a brutal and senseless killing". | |
Mr Walker's aunt Linda Woods - who was joined in court by a large number of the barman's relatives and friends - said no sentence would heal her family's pain. | |
She also criticised the decision by prosecutors to accept the guilty plea to the reduced charge. | |
Mrs Walker went on: "I don't know how it was not murder. He (Esquierdo) knew what he was doing. | |
"I don't know Esquierdo, but for someone to say that was his reason (being abused as a child) for what he did is shocking. He took this out on a person who would not hurt anyone. | |
"Stuart would have spoken to anyone - that was the way he was - and this is what happened. He was just at the wrong place, at the wrong time. | |
"Stuart just did not deserve this - he was one of the nicest guys you could meet. His loss has left such a big hole in the family." |