‘Depraved’ chef killer to spend 22 years in prison

THE girlfriend of a chef who was murdered by her former lover watched as the killer was jailed for 22 years, but said “no amount of time” in prison would make up for her loss.

Stalker Frank Moore tried to murder Lynsey Methven in an early morning attack at her flat in the Grange, leaving her with horrific injuries.

At the High Court in Edinburgh yesterday, 43-year-old Moore was sentenced to a minimum of 22 years for the murder of Stewart Taylor in the same attack after a judge condemned his “depraved and brutal” crime.

After watching in court as Moore was led to the cells, Ms Methven, 31, said: “Everyone keeps asking me how I feel. Nothing I can say would ever be enough. Stewart and I were happy and now he’s gone.

“No amount of time that he [Moore] spends in jail would ever be enough.”

Mr Taylor’s father, Derek Alexander, 58, said: “This man has taken it all away from us and from Stewart. He should have got more. I say bring back hanging.”

A trial heard how tattooed builder Moore attacked the couple after a campaign of harassment that lasted for weeks.

The couple were found, partly clothed, after firefighters forced their way through choking smoke at her home in Chalmers Crescent. Dying Mr Taylor, 33, from Aberdeen, who was head chef at the Maison Bleue restaurant in Victoria Street, suffered a heart attack after being pulled from the ground-floor flat.

He had also suffered a massive skull fracture after being bludgeoned and beaten.

After two days in intensive care at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, bookies’ assistant Ms Methven woke to tell a nurse: “It was Frank” or “It must have been Frank.” She had lost the sight of her left eye and was deaf in one ear. Her sense of balance has been affected so badly that she can no longer walk without help.

Sentencing him, Lord Pentland told Moore: “The motive appears to have been jealousy.”

Moore had denied murder and attempted murder. He did not give evidence but lodged papers claiming he had an alibi on the morning of February 7.

Moore went to extraordinary lengths to cover his tracks, creating alibis and burning the work boots he wore. He drove to the building site where he worked after the murder, sneaking away to wash his overalls.

Moore had been accused of deliberately starting the fire, but the allegation was dropped.

Detective Superintendent Allan Jones, from Lothian and Borders Police, said: “Nothing can undo the anguish that Frank Moore has caused to Stewart Taylor’s family, and to Lynsey Methven.

“It is my sincere hope that this sentence will provide them with some form of closure.”