A thug who set a woman on fire on her doorstep in a brutal attempt to murder her is to be considered for early release in October.
But victim Anne Crossan, 51, scarred for life in the attack, has written to the Parole Board for Scotland pleading them to keep Stewart Watson caged.
Watson – known in Polbeth, West Lothian, where he lived as Wad – was convicted of attempted murder at the High Court in Livingston in July 2016.
He was sentenced a month later to eight-and-a-half years for the attack, carried out on September 4, 2015.
Watson, now 41, had threatened to kill Anne after she told her friend, who was dating him, he had been tested for HIV and for Hepatitis B and C because of drug use.
Former model Anne, wanted to make sure her friend knew so she could keep herself safe but as she spoke to her on the phone, Watson’s voice came on the line, threatening her.
Two months later, Anne had run herself a bath in her home, which at time was not far from Watson’s, when he knocked at her door.
She didn’t want to let him in but he said he wanted to talk to her about her friend, who he was still seeing.
Concerned that her friend might be in danger, Anne opened the door, had lighter fluid thrown over her face and seconds later found herself on fire.
She said: “I was screaming in pain and shock. He swore at me and turned and walked away.
“I ran inside screaming and plunged my head, which was ablaze, into the bath. Thank God the bath had been full or I might have been dead. My hair was coming out in clumps all over the floor and coffee table as I dialled 999.
“I was in agony and a state of total fear and panic.” Lucky to survive,
Anne has been
through gruelling treatment and moved away from the area for safety.
Having been sentenced to more than four years in prison, Watson is entitled to apply for release at half sentence.
If unsuccessful, he will be released automatically two-thirds of the way through his sentence.
Time spent on remand before trial is taken into account, so Watson will be free by about this time next year, but if his application for early release fails, he is almost certain to apply for a Home Detention Curfew to spend his last three months at home on a tag.
Anne said: “I’ve always known he would be free one day and I’ve always believed he is the sort of person to blame me for his troubles rather than himself for his despicable actions.
“I chose to move away. I don’t want to see him again and I don’t want to live in fear that he will come looking to finish the job. I will be terrified when he is released. I don’t want him home early on a tag and will oppose that.
“He tried to kill me in one of the most cowardly and brutal ways you can kill someone, burning me alive. I want him to spend as much of that sentence in jail as possible to give me peace of mind.
“I won’t feel safe when he is out. I’ll be looking over my shoulder all the time. Surely the justice system owes victims of such brutal crimes an obligation at the very least to make the people who hurt them stay in prison for as long as the sentence allows?”
The Parole Board for Scotland and Scottish Prison Service never comment on individual cases.
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