'There is no justice': My brother's murderer is partying in jail on TikTok

A woman is calling for a new law to protect families of victims of crime after videos of her brother’s murderer partying in jail emerged on TikTok.

Margaret McCallum, whose brother Stephen Quigley was murdered in Barrhead in 2021, said that while it was “hard to find happiness”, her family are attempting to focus on the arrival of a new baby.

However, after videos emerged on TikTok of murderer Ben McCulloch partying in his cell alongside fellow inmates in HMP Addiewell, she said this happiness has been “robbed”.

“It’s really hard to find some happiness every day, but these pictures, videos and TikToks just make us all so angry and disheartened that there is just no justice or remorse from this man over what he’s done, he’s having a rare old time,” she told STV News.

“The anger is not just towards Ben, but the whole way he’s come back into our lives again. This is the second time he’s been in the papers.

“My sister is just trying to get back to work because she just had a baby herself, and I was finding myself on stable ground regarding my own mental health.

“My mum is never gonna be the same, but she was finding some happiness because of the new baby.

“But it’s like that happiness has been robbed from us in a sort of way, we can’t enjoy this new baby coming into the family, because we are brought back to seeing his face plastered all over TikTok, which shouldn’t be accessible when you’re doing jail time.”

‘The time inside jail means nothing’

McCulloch stabbed Stephen Quigley, 26, at his home in Barrhead, East Renfrewshire, on March 23, 2021.

The two were close friends and had been spending time together before the fatal attack.

Stephen Quigley died of stab wounds in 2021 Supplied

He left Quigley outside the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley, who tried to walk to A&E for help, but was found dead the next morning.

McCulloch pled guilty to culpable homicide and was jailed for nine-and-a-half years.

Last week, STV News reported that a social media account named HMP.Ghost0 posted a ten-second clip, tagged with #whosaysjailwizhard, showing Ben McCulloch partying with other inmates inside Addiewell.

A second video on the account sees inmates zoom the camera in on lines of a white powdery substance laid on a table as they watch an Old Firm match.

Following the emergence of the videos online, Margaret has questioned how justice is being served.

Scotland

TikTok videos of killer partying with other inmates in Scottish prison taken down

The social media account named HMP.Ghost0 appeared to show those serving time in HMP Addiewell

“It’s like are you not learning anything from your time inside jail? Are you just partying up? What’s going on in prison? It’s not right,” she said.

“It wasn’t just one person in those videos, it was numerous people who have managed to smuggle things into prison.

“These are full-blown criminals and murderers at the end of the day who are being given what they are calling easy time, it shouldn’t be easy.

“I’m not expecting it to be a difficult time, don’t want it to be a hard one, but I want your time inside to mean something, right now it means nothing to me, mum and my sister.

“He’s learning nothing.”

Margaret is calling for a new law to protect victims' families. — Margaret is calling for a new law to protect victims’ families. Margaret McCallum via Supplied

Margaret is now calling for a new law which would protect families of victims, which would criminalise the sending of messages from inside prisons that cause upset.

“I want the law to achieve justice for the victim’s family because, yes, Stephen was a victim in this,” she said.

“My brother was taken, it’s us that now need to be around and witness the aftermath of it all, about how people are living.

“We now need to readjust ourselves and live in a way that we’re remembering Stephen, hopefully protect other families going through the same anger and trauma we’ve been through.

“There should be a way to help other families going through the same trauma.”

A spokesperson for the Scottish Prison Service said they “understand the significant distress” the videos can cause.

“Our staff work hard to keep prisons safe and secure, using all available technology and intelligence to prevent illicit items, including mobile phones, entering our establishments”, they said.

“While we do not comment on individuals, we continue to work with Police Scotland, and other partners, to take action against those who attempt to breach our security.”

Sodexo, which operates the Scottish prison, confirmed that it was aware of the videos circulating and said that the footage is from “several months ago”.

A spokesperson said: “The use and conveyance of illicit items, including mobile phones and drugs, is illegal in any prison.

“We constantly review our practices and deploy a range of tactics to prevent such items from being introduced. We take these matters extremely seriously – any individual found in possession of illicit items is immediately reported to the relevant authorities, with appropriate action taken.”

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “As we have previously stated, this is an operational matter for the Scottish Prison Service, who use a range of technology and intelligence to stop illicit items reaching our prisons.

“As previously announced, in 2026-2027 we are investing just over £1bn in our prisons to support frontline staff and progress improvements in the prison estate.”