Letters sent to Limbs in the Loch killer William Beggs in prison test positive for ketamine

Police were called in by prison staff to investigate how two letters sent to ‘Limbs in the Loch’ murderer William Beggs tested positive for ketamine.

The Court of Session heard on Wednesday how two items of mail sent to Beggs in April last year tested positive for the illicit substance.

Judge Lady Hood made the disclosure in her judgment about a recent case brought to Scotland’s highest civil court by Beggs, who is currently serving life for murdering Barry Wallace in 2001.

Beggs – who has brought several actions to the court in recent years – raised an action against the Scottish Prison Service claiming that staff at HMP Saughton in Edinburgh breached his human rights by how they handled pieces of correspondence sent to him there between March and July 2025.

Beggs said his human rights had been breached because prison staff didn’t tell him who had sent the letters or details of the testing results.

Prison staff refused to disclose the information because the contaminated items became evidence in criminal investigations, and handling had to be minimised.

Beggs also claimed that a letter from NHS Lothian Legal Policy was processed as ordinary mail and not confidential medical mail. He said this amounted to a breach of human rights.

The court heard that a letter sent from a solicitor had a small tear on the envelope, and another piece of legal correspondence was unsealed. This prompted Beggs to claim that staff failed to protect confidentiality.

He also claimed his rights were breached because some of the mail sent to him during the time period was received late.

Beggs wanted Lady Hood to pass several legal orders to declare that the prison service acted unlawfully in how it dealt with his correspondence.

However, Lady Hood rejected Beggs’s legal challenge and concluded that the prison services acted lawfully in how they dealt with the letters.

She wrote: “I shall therefore repel the petitioner’s first to seventh pleas-in-law and refuse the petition.”

Amazon delivery action

He launched legal proceedings at Scotland’s highest civil court last year after prison staff refused to accept an Amazon delivery for him.

The killer took the Scottish Prison Service to the Court of Session over an incident which happened at HMP Edinburgh in December 2024.

Delivery drivers for the online retailer attempted to drop off “personal items” for Beggs at the jail.

However, the staff refused to accept the delivery. A legal opinion published by Court of Session judge Lady Hood on Thursday stated that Amazon weren’t an “approved supplier” at the prison.

This prompted Beggs to make a complaint to prison authorities and then launch a legal action against the prison.

His objections lay with the prison’s policy on deliveries to inmates.

Beggs claimed that the jail’s policy on deliveries breached his human rights.

The murderer believed that, as he is an Irish citizen, he has a “protected characteristic” under the 2010 Equality Act of nationality.

His lawyers argued that prisoners of a different nationality – such as Beggs – are placed at a disadvantage by the prison service’s policy on deliveries.

His legal team argued that such prisoners’ families are likely to live further away from the prison and might have to rely on sending deliveries to loved ones.

The court heard that this meant that such prisoners are “prejudiced” by the policy and that it was unlawful.

Lawyers for the prison service argued that the policy was lawful and that the action shouldn’t be upheld.

In a written judgment published by the court late last year, Lady Hood upheld the arguments presented to her by the SPS’s lawyer, Michael Briggs.

Beggs is serving life after he was convicted of murdering teenager Barry Wallace in October 2001 at the High Court in Glasgow.

The killer dumped Mr Wallace’s limbs and torso in Loch Lomond and his head in the sea off the Ayrshire coast, then fled to the Netherlands. He was extradited back to Scotland in January 2001.

Since being convicted, Beggs is thought to have been given almost £1m in legal aid payments.

Judge Lord Brodie once described him as being a “very experienced litigant”.

In the present action, it is revealed that Beggs wanted the prison service to pay his legal bill.

Lady Hood said that two pieces of correspondence, which tested positive for ketamine, prompted a police probe.

Beggs was issued with two suspicious mail retention forms, which stated that both of the items of mail would be safely destroyed after the police investigation was complete.

He was never told of the contents of the mail or provided with a copy.

Writing about the ketamine discovery, Lady Hood said the prison service acted lawfully.

She wrote: “With regard to the first of the petitioner’s concerns, I am satisfied that in the context of the Article 8 right, it was sufficient that the petitioner was informed that the reason for the seizure of the mail was that it had tested positive for an illicit substance.

“It was unclear what legitimate benefit could be derived by a prisoner knowing more detailed information as to testing which has been carried out.

“In all of these circumstances, there has been no breach of Article 8, ECHR, and the respondent has not acted unlawfully.

“The petitioner is not entitled to the declarator and interdict which he seeks in this regard.”