Twenty-two years ago, my sister and her partner  were murdered in Leslie, Fife,Scotland. The man responsible was given a sentence that required him to serve 20 years before becoming eligible to apply for parole.
In each of the last two years, the Parole Board has refused his release. Despite these decisions, he is entitled to apply again the following year, forcing our family's to repeatedly relive the trauma of the crime and its devastating impact.
I am calling on the Scottish Government to review and change parole rules so that individuals convicted of murder who have been refused parole cannot reapply every year. Instead, there should be a substantially longer period, such as three to five years, before another application can be considered.
Annual parole reviews place an unnecessary emotional burden on victims' families and can repeatedly reopen wounds that have never fully healed. When parole has already been refused because the individual remains unsuitable for release, there should be a meaningful interval before a further application is permitted.
This change would better balance the rights of offenders with the rights of victims and their families, while reducing the repeated distress caused by frequent parole applications.
I urge the Scottish Government and Scottish Parliament to amend the law and introduce longer periods between parole reviews for those convicted of murder whose applications for release have been refused. 

No family should have to endure the emotional toll of yearly parole hearings after losing a loved one to murder. We deserve time to heal without facing the same fear and uncertainty every year. We deserve compassion, our loved ones deserve to be remembered, and our voices deserve to be heard.