Scottish pensioner handed 18-year sentence for murder in Bulgaria
Vidin District Court has sentenced David Bell Bryson, a 72-year-old Scottish pensioner who has lived in Bulgaria for the past six years, to 18 years in jail for the murder of 11-year-old Stanislav Milchov.
Milchov’s body was found on January 21 2012 after he had been missing for 17 days. Bryson allegedly confessed to the murder after failing a polygraph test, but showed no remorse, accusing Milchov of poisoning his dogs, according to reports in Bulgarian media at the time.
The court found that Bryson murdered the victim “in a particularly cruel manner” and ruled that he was to serve his sentence in a heightened security facility. He was also sentenced to paying 200 000 leva to Milchov’s parents.
“I am unhappy with the sentence. Bulgaria is a more democratic country than America, since there the death penalty is still in effect. I am not interested in the money I will get from this murderer, I am only interested in the verdict,” the victim’s father, Vesselin Mirchov, was quoted as saying by Bulgarian news website Mediapool.bg.
Bryson had lived in the village of Lagoshevtsi, near Vidin in northeastern Bulgaria, for years, but had few interactions with other local residents, reports in Bulgarian media said at the time of his arrest. He was said to sometimes hire local boys, Milchov included, to help him with repairs on his property.
(Photo: Jason Morisson/sxc.hu)
