Newsroom

2009 Articles:

14/08/09 - Fear of jail prompted Bristol killer's suicide - Evening Post / This is Bristol

A psychopath who stabbed a young Bristol barmaid to death hanged himself because he feared he would be forced to leave Broadmoor Hospital and return to prison, a jury concluded yesterday.

Paul McMilan told staff at the high-security institution he did not want to serve the rest of his life sentence at a normal jail because he was worried about his safety.

The 27-year-old psychopath was jailed for manslaughter in 2001 after admitting butchering 22-year-old barmaid Shirley Cotton-Betteridge with a kitchen knife in a Bristol pub.

Returning a narrative verdict, the foreman of the jury of four men and four women said: "He was anxious as regards to his care pathway and was fearful of going back to prison. On the night of his death, staff disposition offered an opportunity for Paul's actions and he died from a self-applied ligature."

At his original sentencing, the judge, Mrs Justice Heather Hallett ordered McMilan to be sent to Broadmoor after medical reports concluded he had a schizoid personality disorder.

However, if his treatment there was successful he would be returned to prison to serve out his life sentence.

In early 2008, the mental health authority responsible for the killer's care at the institution in Crowthorne, Berkshire, suggested he may be ready for the transfer.

This unsettled heavily-depressed McMilan, who had previously served a three-year term for indecent assault, and he threatened to kill himself if he was ever made to return.

On May 22 last year the troubled patient carried out the threat, tying a torn bed sheet around his neck and suspending it from his door just moments after nurses had routinely checked his room.

Berkshire Coroner Peter Bedford heard that in the months leading up to his death, McMilan had told doctors he wished he had not done what he did and felt ashamed.

The killer, from Knowle, in Bristol, said he kept having suicidal thoughts and could see "no light at the end of the tunnel," prompting senior doctors to put him under intermittent observation.

Broadmoor Nurse Steven Lovesey told jurors at Windsor Guildhall: "Paul was disappointed that the views of the nursing team and the medical team at the hospital were not being replicated by the outside authorities.

"It was the prison aspect and potential of spending many years in prison that worried him."

McMilan had been convicted of indecent assault and causing grievous bodily harm in 1999 but was conditionally released from a young offenders' institution in August 2000. Less than a year later he killed his assistant manager Miss Cotton-Betteridge, while working at The Figurehead and Firkin pub on Bristol's Watershed

13/08/09 - Bristol barmaid killer hanged himself - Evening Post / This is Bristol

A sex offender who stabbed a barmaid to death at a Bristol pub hanged himself in Broadmoor because he did not want to be sent to a conventional prison, an inquest heard.

Psychopath Paul McMilan stabbed 22-year-old Shirley Cotton-Betteridge more than 40 times at the Figurehead and Firkin pub on the Harbourside in 2001.

McMilan, who grew up in Weston-super-Mare and was living in Marston Road, Knowle, at the time of the killing, was sentenced to life for manslaughter and sent to Broadmoor high-security hospital in 2002 by a judge who

said she had rarely seen psychiatrists refer to such a high risk of re-offending.

He killed Shirley less than a year after release from serving just 16 months of a three-and-a-half year sentence for indecently assaulting and causing grievous bodily harm to a girl in a knifepoint attack in 1999.

The 27-year-old was sent to Broadmoor after medical reports concluded he had a schizoid personality disorder – but if his treatment was successful he would be returned to prison to serve out his life sentence.

An inquest which opened yesterday heard McMilan told staff at the Berkshire institution he did not want to serve the rest of his sentence – set by Appeal Court judges at a minimum of nine years – at a normal jail as he was worried about his safety.

Early last year the mental health authority responsible for McMilan's care sug- gested he may be ready for transfer. This unsettled heavily-depressed McMilan and he threatened to kill himself if he was ever made to return, the hearing was told.

On May 22 last year he carried out the threat, hanging himself from his door by a sheet just moments after nurses had routinely checked his room, it was heard. He left a note scribbled on a folded kitchen towel saying: "I love you all. I am sorry."

Berkshire Coroner Peter Bedford heard that in the months leading up to his death, McMilan had told doctors he wished he had not done what he did and felt ashamed.

The inquest heard he had said he kept having suicidal thoughts and could see "no light at the end of the tunnel," prompting senior doctors to put him under intermittent observation.

Giving evidence at the inquest in Windsor, clinical psychologist Jessica Lee, who regularly treated McMilan over his six-year stay at Broadmoor, said: "He was genuinely disturbed and worried about returning to the prison system."

"He was worried about people having knowledge of his history – the facts leading up to the offence and the offence itself – and his safety."

McMilan, a former barman at The Figurehead and Firkin, had killed Miss Cotton-Betteridge, his former assistant manager, after staying behind after closing as she locked up the pub.

The inquest heard McMilan had tried to kill himself after each of his attacks but had never harmed himself while inside Broadmoor.

Dr Morris Weinstock, a consultant forensic psychiatrist at the mental hospital, said the troubled patient had first attempted to take his life after carrying out an indecent assault on a young girl in 1999.

He then again attempted suicide the day after killing Shirley, slitting his wrists and neck, taking a drug overdose and then placing a plastic bag over his head.

Dr Weinstock said McMilan, whose earliest possible date of release from his life sentence would have been in October 2011, had a bad time in the young offenders' institution he was sent to for committing the first offence and "explicitly said he did not want to go back".

When asked why by Berkshire Coroner Peter Bedford, Dr Weinstock said: "Sex offenders are stigmatised and it would be very difficult for them. It was one thing he was frightened of and he felt he didn't cope with it well last time.

"He said how difficult and negative it had been and how if he had to go back there he would kill himself."

The inquest was due to end today.

2008 Articles:

24/08/08 - BRISTOL BARMAID KILLER FOUND HANGED - Evening Post / This Is Bristol

The family of a barmaid stabbed to death in a Bristol pub say justice has been done after her killer was found dead.

Shirley Cotton-Bettridge was 22 years old when psychopath Paul McMilan stabbed her more than 40 times at the Figurehead and Firkin pub on the Harbourside in 2001.

McMilan, who grew up in Weston-super-Mare and was living in Marston Road, Knowle, at the time of the attack, was sentenced to life in Broadmoor high-security hospital in 2002.

But on Thursday morning he was found unconscious on his ward and died minutes later.

Shirley's stepfather Graham Morgan, of Cheltenham, yesterday said McMilan's death was "brilliant news".

He said: "I was sat in my van when I got the call. My first gut feeling was, 'They are going to release him'. So when they said he was dead, I thought it was great.

"At least now he won't hurt anyone else."

Mr Morgan became stepfather to Shirley and her sisters Anna, Christie and Lucy when she was four.

He said: "People just don't realise what we've been through and are still going through.

"Not a night goes by when I don't talk to Shirley.

"We don't speak about her much because we don't want to upset each other.

"Sometimes I see a girl in the street who looks just like her and I want to go up to her, but I don't.

"You couldn't have asked for a better daughter. You could have a laugh with her and nobody had a bad word to say about her."

McMilan was a registered sex offender supposedly being monitored by the Probation Service at the time of the attack.

A year earlier, he had been released from a young offenders' institution after serving 16 months of a three-year sentence for indecently assaulting a 22-year-old woman and causing her grievous bodily harm during a knifepoint attack.

He was still considered to be a risk to the public on his release.

McMilan had previously worked at the pub and had chatted to Shirley, who was the assistant manager, on the night of her death. He waited for her as she locked up before he attacked her.

Originally charged with murder, McMilan pleaded guilty to manslaughter through diminished responsibility at Bristol Crown Court in July 2002.

He was sentenced to life imprisonment three months later and the judge, Mrs Justice Heather Hallett, imposed the sentence "without limit of time", saying McMilan presented a danger to women in particular.

But in 2005 the unlimited tariff was overturned on appeal and McMilan was told he could apply for parole after nine years.

Lord Justice Kennedy said the offence, "grave though it was", was not of such seriousness as to justify a life sentence with no minimum tariff.

Mr Morgan, a builder, could not work for nearly a year after the murder, and still visits Shirley's grave every Sunday.

He said he and Shirley's mother Anita Nelder were still angry at the justice system for releasing McMilan early from his previous sentence.

He went on to miss meetings with his probation officer and a mental health assessor, and failed to attend a sex offenders' course, before killing Shirley.

Mr Morgan said: "They let Shirley down and then they let us down. If it wasn't for them, she'd still be here. We'd probably have had grandkids by now. They've taken everything from us."

But he reserved most of his anger for McMilan, saying he could never forgive him for what he had done.

"I wish the death penalty had still been around for the likes of him," said Mr Morgan.

"Paul McMillan has never, ever given a reason for what he did, and that's what really hurts."

"If he had come out in my lifetime I'd have killed him. I prom- ised Shirley I wouldn't let this happen to any other girl and now I feel like I've kept my promise."

Shirley's sister Laura, 25, said she hoped people would learn from her death.

She said: "I'm sad for his parents but happy about him because he's not going to do it again.

"If he hadn't been released in the first place, two lives would have been saved - my sister's and his."

24/05/08 - Barmaid's killer dies in hospital - BBC News Online

A man convicted of killing a Cheltenham barmaid has died after collapsing at a secure psychiatric hospital.

Paul McMillan, 27, stabbed Shirley Cotton-Betteridge more than 40 times at a Bristol pub in 2001.

He punched and kicked her to the ground as she was cashing up, before stabbing her to death in a frenzied attack.

McMillan pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was given a life sentence. On Thursday he was found unconscious at Broadmoor and later died in hospital.

A spokesman for the West London Mental Health Trust confirmed an investigation had been launched.

A year before the fatal stabbing, McMillan had been released from a young offender institution - while still considered to be a risk - after serving a sentence for indecently assaulting a girl and causing her grievous bodily harm.

He pleaded guilty to the killing in October 2002.

2002 Articles:

17/10/02 - A PSYCHOPATH WITH VIOLENT SEX FANTASIES - Bristol Evening Post - Late Edition

The judge who jailed Paul McMilan for life also took the unusual step of imposing the sentence "without limit of time".

Mrs Justice Heather Hallett said she had taken the decision because of the danger McMilan presented to the public and women in particular.

He will begin his sentence at Broadmoor high security hospital.

Bristol Crown Court, which was packed with murdered Shirley Cotton-Betteridge's friends and relatives, was told he was a psychopath with violent sexual fantasies who had already been jailed for three-and-a-half years for a horrific sex attack on a young girl.

Shirley, who was described as bubbly and popular, was found stabbed to death with multiple wounds in the office of the Figurehead and Firkin public house.

After the killing, McMilan turned up at Bristol Royal Infirmary saying he had taken an overdose of paracetamol and with a self-inflicted stab wound to his neck.

He told the hospital he was under the care of a psychiatrist and had made previous self-harm attempts.

Dr Philip Hopley, Consultant Forensic Psychiatrist at Broadmoor High Security Hospital, told the court that McMilan had told him: "I want help, I want to experience normal things and proper relationships."

Michael Fitton, defending, said McMilan had shown bizarre symptoms and had described the face of a policeman in a way that appeared to indicate psychosis.

"He has said: 'Unless I receive psychiatric help I recognise I may do it again and I don't want to, '" said Mr Fitton.

Mrs Justice Hallett said McMilan appeared to live in a deviant world that that featured violent sexual fantasies but could appear perfectly normal before and after his crimes.

She told him: "You killed a lovely and kind and popular young woman who had everything to live for.

"You have caused untold misery to her family and friends.

"My sole aim today is not to do what is in your best interests but to do what I can to protect the public from you for as long as necessary.

17/10/02 - PARENTS OF STABBED BARMAID CALL FOR SYSTEM CHANGE - Bristol Evening Post - Early Edition

The parents of stabbed assistant bar manager Shirley Cotton Betteridge today called for a change in the system which allowed a known dangerous sex offender to be out on the streets.

Yesterday 21-year-old Paul McMilan, who had been employed at the Harbourside pub where Shirley worked, was jailed for life for stabbing her to death with a kitchen knife.

Mrs Justice Heather Hallett took the unusual step of imposing the sentence without limit of time because of the danger she said McMilan presented to the public and women in particular. He will begin his sentence at Broadmoor high security hospital.

Bristol Crown Court, which was packed with friends and relatives, was told he was a psychopath with violent sexual fantasies who had already been jailed for three-and-a-half years for a horrific sex attack on a young girl.

He had served just 16 months before being freed. He had been out of prison for a year and was on the sex offenders' register at the time of the killing in August last year.

Shirley, who was described as bubbly and popular, was found stabbed to death with multiple wounds in the office of the Figurehead and Firkin.

McMilan, who had denied murder but admitted manslaughter, was linked to the stabbing through DNA and footprints he left at the scene.

After the killing he turned up at Bristol Royal Infirmary saying he had taken an overdose of paracetamol and with a self-inflicted stab wound to the left side of his neck.

He told the hospital he was under the care of a psychiatrist and had made previous self-harm attempts.

Dr Philip Hopley, consultant forensic psychiatrist at Broadmoor high security hospital, told the court that McMilan had told him: "I want help, I want to experience normal things and proper relationships."

Michael Fitton, defending, said McMilan had shown bizarre symptoms and had described the face of a policeman in a way that appeared to indicate psychosis.

"He has said 'Unless I receive psychiatric help I recognise I may do it again and I don't want to', " said Mr Fitton.

Mrs Justice Hallett said McMilan appeared to live in a deviant world that featured violent sexual fantasies but could appear perfectly normal before and after his horrific crimes.

She told him: "You killed a lovely and kind and popular young woman who had everything to live for. You have caused untold misery to her family and friends.

"My sole aim today is not to do what is in your best interests but to do what I can to protect the public from you for as long as necessary.

"Every psychiatrist agrees you are a highly dangerous young man and you pose a grave risk to the public and to women in particular."

After the hearing Graham Morgan, 56, Shirley's stepfather, said McMilan had been identified as "highly dangerous" when he was in jail though he was adept at hiding his true personality behind a meek and mild demeanour.

He said: "McMilan should never have been let out of prison. If they had sectioned him when they realised he was so dangerous after his previous offence, this would never have happened. They allowed him out, they gave him a licence to do it."

McMilan, aged 21, of Marston Road, Knowle, was supposed to have regular meetings with his probation officer and attend sex offenders' group meetings.

He failed to keep several appointments but had met his probation officer and attended a group meeting on the day of the killing.

Realising he was a serious risk to women, particularly after drinking alcohol, the Probation Service had told him to quit his job at the Figurehead and Firkin but he continued to go there regularly as a customer.

On the night he stabbed Shirley to death, he had drunk at least two pints of lager and three double vodka and Red Bulls.

Mr Morgan said: "The system has absolutely failed Shirley and unless they change the system and section someone they know is dangerous, this will definitely happen again.

"There is more than one person like Paul McMilan."

Shirley's mum Anita said: "The Probation Service has the power to make things right. Sex offenders should not get another chance.

"The system is responsible for Shirley's death. They didn't stop McMilan going back to the pub as a customer. He was on no curfew.

"They should have warned the people he worked with what he had done."

Mr Morgan said the Probation Service had failed McMilan just as much as it had Shirley.

Avon and Somerset's Chief Probation Officer Jeanette Whitford has said that McMilan was "supervised intensively" with more than 40 meetings and telephone calls But Peter Coad, director of the Bristol-based Criminal Justice Association (CJA) and himself a former probation officer, said McMilan should have been recalled to prison when he first missed appointments.

17/10/02 - LIFE FOR THE PSYCHOPATH WHO KNIFED BARMAID - Western Daily Press

A convicted sex offender who knifed a pretty barmaid to death less than a year after he was released was yesterday sentenced to life in jail.

Psychopath Paul McMilan, 21, repeatedly stabbed Shirley Cotton-Betteridge, 22, with a kitchen knife in a frenzied attack as she locked up at a waterfront pub in Bristol.

The assistant manager was terrified of being alone and had allowed former barman McMilan, whom she met six weeks earlier, to stay behind to keep her company.

McMilan, who was on the Sex Offenders' Register following a knife-point sex assault, stabbed her to death in the Figurehead and Firkin. He was sentenced to life after pleading guilty to manslaughter on August 29 last year.

Mrs Justice Heather Hallett ordered McMilan be sent to Broadmoor hospital for treatment before being returned to prison.

The court heard how, just hours before the killing, McMilan had met his probation officer and attended a group for sex offenders.

Judge Hallett told Bristol Crown Court: "This young man's appearance lulled people into a false sense of security."

Speaking to McMilan, she added: "You are an extremely dangerous young man and you pose a grave risk to the public and to women in particular. You killed a lively, kind and popular young woman."

In August 1999, McMilan was sentenced to three years in a young offenders' institute after he indecently assaulted a 22-year-old and beat her at knifepoint. The court heard McMilan had a fixation with hardcore pornography and was acting out a violent film fantasy when he attacked the woman.

Because he had already served time on remand, he was released on supervision in August 2000.

He rented a room in Bristol, sharing with five other people, and got a job at the pub where Ms Cotton-Betteridge worked.

McMilan lied on his application form and his pub bosses were not aware of his past.

He was last seen by a psychiatrist on August 9. Three weeks later, he stabbed Shirley to death.

Ms Cotton-Betteridge's horrified family yesterday criticised the system that allowed McMilan out to kill. Speaking after the hearing, stepfather Graham Morgan, from Cheltenham, said: "The system failed Shirley terribly and she paid with her life.

"A young man who was evidently a danger to society was released to harm again.

"I can't understand it. He should not have been allowed on the streets. The system must change to protect all our daughters, sons, sisters and brothers alike.

"Until the professionals are given powers to detain the likes of Paul McMilan, our society will not be safe. No one will understand the hurt Paul McMilan has and continues to put us through and what has been taken from us."

Medical reports concluded McMilan had an "abnormal profile" and a "schizoid personality disorder".

But Jeanette Whitford, chief officer of Bristol probation service, admitted that while known sex offenders are monitored, the risk of reoffending cannot be eradicated.

She said: "Public safety is a top priority for the probation service and that is why someone like Paul McMilan was supervised intensively. After he was issued with a final warning, if he had not complied he would have been recalled to prison. Our job is to reduce risks wherever that is possible but that risk cannot be totally eliminated.

"We have reviewed the case to see if we did everything we could.

"If the national directorate were concerned, they would have got back to us but they haven't."

But for Ms Cotton-Betteridge's mother Anita, the hurt goes on.

She said: "You feel such pain. With my other daughters, we try and protect them.

"We don't want them to feel the pain but we know they are feeling it just the same anyway.

"Life moves on but it feels like it was only yesterday."

17/10/02 - Stab Killer Gets Life - Daily Mirror

THE family of a woman stabbed by a convicted sex offender yesterday blamed the legal system for setting him free to kill her. Psychopath Paul McMilan, 21, was jailed for life after admitting the manslaughter of Shirley Cotton-Betteridge, 22.

The court heard McMilan was convicted of indecent assault and grievous bodily harm in 1999 but released in 2000.

McMilan saw his probation officer and his sex offenders' group hours before stabbing Shirley in the pub in Bristol where she worked.

Prosecutor Don Tait told Bristol crown court McMilan showed a high risk of reoffending particularly against women.

Shirley's stepfather Graham Morgan, of Cheltenham, said: "They gave him the licence to do it."

16/10/02 - Anger as psychopath gets life sentence - BBC NEWS ONLINE -> Link to story <-

The family of a woman stabbed by a convicted sex offender have called for a change in the system that put her killer back in the community.
Paul McMilan was sentenced to life imprisonment on Wednesday after pleading guilty to the murder of Shirley Cotton-Betteridge.

He stabbed the 22-year-old barmaid to death in the pub where she worked.

Sentencing him, Mrs Justice Heather Hallett ordered he be sent to Broadmoor hospital for treatment but must return to prison when it was over.

''Although you live apparently in an extremely deviated inner world and have violent sexual fantasies, you can at the next minute appear perfectly normal ''- Mrs Justice Heather Hallett

McMilan had been convicted of indecent assault and causing grievous bodily harm in 1999 but was conditionally released from a young offenders institute in August 2000.

He killed Miss Cotton-Betteridge on 28 August 2001.

Mrs Justice Hallett said: "I wish that I could offer the smallest crumb of comfort to the family and friends of your victim by way of explanation as to how this dreadful, tragic sequence of events could have occurred."

Miss Cotton-Betteridge's stepfather, Graham Morgan, from Cheltenham, said after the hearing that he condemned the system that put McMilan back into the community.

He said: "I solely hold the system responsible for Shirley's death.

"If it does not change it will definitely happen again."

The judge said McMilan had a meek and mild demeanour

During Wednesday's hearing, the judge heard how McMilan had attended a group for sex offenders just hours before the killing.

Miss Cotton-Betteridge was assistant manager in a pub where McMilan had worked and, on the night of her death, had remained in the pub alone with him.

A post-mortem revealed she had died from multiple stab wounds from a kitchen knife.

The judge was also told that McMilan had attended hospital the day after the killing after attempting suicide.

He pleaded guilty to manslaughter in June and was diagnosed with a psychopathic disorder, having a schizoid personality disorder.

Mrs Justice Hallett said she had rarely seen psychiatrists refer to such a high level of risk of someone reoffending.

She said: "Although you live apparently in an extremely deviated inner world and have violent sexual fantasies, you can at the next minute appear perfectly normal."

Highly dangerous

Mr Morgan said he hoped McMilan would never be released and condemned the system that allowed the killer to be in the community.

He said: "To identify him as a person being highly dangerous and then saying we will put you on probation and the sexual offenders' register - they gave him the licence to do it. "The system failed Shirley - I think unless they change the system this is going to happen again.

"There is more than one person like Paul McMilan.

02/09/02 Barmaid killed by offender released on licence - The Times Newspaper

THE family of a woman stabbed to death by a convicted sex offender called for a change in the law yesterday after it emerged that her killer had been released on licence despite having a psychopathic personality disorder.
Paul McMilan, 21, had been freed after serving one year of a three-year sentence for indecently assaulting a woman at knifepoint.

Bristol Crown Court was told that despite the Probation Service’s placing him under the highest level of supervision, McMilan found a room in Bristol and got a job as a barman without anyone being told of his past. When he failed to keep appointments with his probation officer, he was sent a warning letter and was seen later by a psychiatrist, but no further action was taken.

Three weeks later he fatally stabbed Shirley Cotton-Betteridge, a barmaid, as she locked up the harbourside pub where they were both worked.

McMilan admitted manslaughter and now faces a life sentence in a secure hospital. A number of reports concluded that McMilan had an “abnormal profile” and a “schizoid personality disorder”.

Dr Alan Lillywhite, a consultant forensic psychiatrist, said: “This man poses a long-term risk of committing further offences whether in custody, hospital or in the community.”

Graham Morgan, Miss Cotton-Betteridge’s stepfather, said: “The system failed Shirley terribly . . . Until the professionals are given powers to detain the likes of Paul McMilan I’m afraid our society will not be safe.”

McMilan was released early because of the time he had already served on remand. His name was recorded on the sex offenders register. The Probation Service said that he was classed as a “high-risk offender” and was to be supervised until last June.

Jeanette Whitford, chief officer of the probation service in Bristol, said that there had been a thorough review of the case.

McMilan is due to be sentenced next month.

31/08/02 - Barmaid killer faces Broadmoor sentence - BBC NEWS ONLINE -> Link to story <-

Shirley Cotton-Betteridge was murdered in Bristol

The family of a young barmaid murdered by a psychopath have condemned a previous court decision to sentence him to just three years for a serious assault.

Shirley Cotton-Betteridge was 22 when she moved to Bristol from Cheltenham in 2001. She had been left to lock up the Figurehead and Firkin pub on the city's Watershed in the early hours last August when Paul McMilan stabbed her to death. On Wednesday, Bristol Crown Court heard McMilan was a psychopath who had already served three years for a serious assault on a woman.

McMilan had served time for assault

Prosecuting Counsel Don Tait said: "It was clear from the outset that the crime was committed by a heavily disturbed individual who had a previous conviction for a serious offence in 1999.
"The Crown takes the view therefore that, subject to an automatic life sentence, he will be admitted to Broadmoor Special Hospital."
A number of medical reports all concluded that McMilan had an "abnormal profile" and a "schizoid personality disorder" and there was a "serious risk of McMilan re-offending".
A report from consultant forensic psychiatrist Dr Alan Lillywhite stated that: "This man poses a long-term risk of committing further offences whether in custody, hospital or in the community."

Guilty plea

After the hearing Graham Morgan, Shirley's stepfather, said: "I can't understand a system where they don't realise that he is a danger before he's released to society.
"They just go ahead and release him because he's done his tarriff, but there must be some sort of law where if they realise he's dangerous, they can send him somewhere afterwards.
"He just shouldn't have been released."
Anita Cotton-Betteridge, Shirley's mother, said: "You feel such pain.
"I am trying to protect my other daughters, but you know they're feeling it all the time.
"It's 11 months on and it feels like it was yesterday."

McMilan,21, from Knowle in Bristol, pleaded guilty to manslaughter. The case was adjourned for reports from the special hospital to be compiled.

31/08/02 BARMAID STABBED TO DEATH BY SEX OFFENDER- Bristol Evening Post 31 July 2002

Bristol barmaid Shirley Cotton-Betteridge was stabbed to death by a convicted sex offender, the Evening Post can reveal.

Paul McMilan, aged 21, was today sent to Broadmoor psychiatric hospital after admitting the manslaughter of Shirley, a barmaid at the Figurehead and Firkin on Bristol's harbourside.

Bristol Crown Court was told that psychiatrists believed McMilan should be detained for life.

And inquiries by the Evening Post have revealed that McMilan, of Marston Road, Knowle, killed 22year-old Shirley a year after he was released from a young offenders' institution, where he had served 16 months for a sex offence.
McMilan was on the Sex Offenders' Register and had become infatuated with Shirley.
Pale, slim, dark-haired and bespectacled, McMilan - who was wearing grey trousers and a white shirt open at the neck - sat impassively in the dock, speaking only to give his name.
Bristol Crown Court heard McMilan stayed behind after other customers had left on August 29 last year and killed her as she was about to lock up for the night. Her body was found by cleaners the following morning.
McMilan admitted manslaughter in June but reporting restrictions were imposed. These were lifted today.
He was charged with murder after his arrest but the Crown Prosecution Service accepted his guilty plea to manslaughter.
McMilan was convicted of a serious indecent assault when he was 17. He was sentenced to three years in a young offenders' institution but was released on August 30, 2000. He went to live in Knowle and got a job delivering electrical appliances.
Prosecutor Don Tait told Mr Justice Gray today that psychiatrists agreed McMilan represented an ongoing danger to the public and was suffering from a psychopathic abnormality which substantially impaired his judgment at the time of the killing.
Mr Tait said it was planned to send McMilan to Broadmoor for assessment as to whether he should be detained under Section 45A of the Mental Health Act.
He said psychiatrist Dr Alan Lillywhite had said he felt that McMilan should be detained for life and Mr Tait said it was considered this was the best thing for the protection of the public.
The judge said that he concurred with that view, adding: "It does seem to me inevitably to be the best course to take in very tragic circumstances."
The full facts of the case were not given at today's hearing although Mr Tait confirmed that McMilan had a previous conviction.

31/08/02 - 'THERE ISN'T A PERSON ON EARTH THAT WOULD SAY ANYTHING BAD ABOUT HER' - Bristol Evening Post

Caring Shirley Cotton-Betteridge made a lot of friends in Bristol.

The 22-year-old always had time for people, although she never made a big show of it.

Beggars she had helped outside the city centre pub where she worked, Bristol's Figurehead and Firkin, sent bouquets to her funeral in St Michael's Church, Whaddon, last September.

Friends travelled from as far as Ireland to pay their last respects to the cheerful girl they knew and loved.

Her mother Anita Nelder, who lives in Wyman's Road, Cheltenham, said:

"She was outgoing but not a real extrovert - she was quite reserved.

"But she was always kind. There isn't a person on earth that would say anything bad about her."

She was born into a large family in Cheltenham on February 2, 1979 .

Her parents Anita Nelder and Chris Cotton-Betteridge separated in the 1980s, but throughout her life she was close to her sisters Anna, Christy, Laura, and step-brother Ian, as well as many cousins and other relatives.

Mrs Nelder said: "We are quite a close-knit family and she was brought up not just with her brothers and sisters but the whole family.

"Shirley was an avid reader and liked reading and writing poetry. And she used to make up plays to entertain people."

Throughout her life she always loved music, and was a fan of everything from Pink Floyd to folk.

Between the ages of 11 and 16 she studied at St Benedict's Catholic School before going to Gloscat, where she started to learn hairdressing and worked at the His Knibbs salon as part of her training.

In August 1999 she decided to try something new and came to Bristol to study theatrical make-up at the City of Bristol College.

To raise money she worked in Cribbs Causeway at Dave & Busters, an entertainment venue with a restaurant and bars, where she quickly settled in.

Mrs Nelder said: "I never regretted her going to live in Bristol. It is what she wanted to do.

"Every couple of weeks she would come back for the weekend. There wasn't a month went by when we didn't see her."

In May 2000 Shirley finished her college course and moved from Dave & Busters when the venue closed. She started work in the summer of 2000 at the Figurehead and Firkin.

She never really settled at the pub, and three months before her death started hairdressing again, renting a chair in a Bristol salon in Clifton.

Customers felt at ease with her warm personality and she soon built up a stream of regulars.

Mrs Nelder said: "Within a few months she had got such a clientele that she was confident enough she could make a decent living without the pub work."

On the night of her death she was preparing to give up her job and work full time as a hairdresser. Draft copies of her resignation letter were found near the scene of her death.

Shirley's mum said: "Being a hairdresser you have got to instill confidence, and she had a natural gift for that. She could get on with anybody, and anybody would speak to her. She was probably too trusting."

In January last year she started to go out with Rob Nakielny, a Bristol University student who also worked at the pub.

At more than 6ft he towered above 5ft 1in Shirley, but the couple got on well. Though not a football fan she travelled with him to watch his beloved Sheffield United.

A few weeks before her death she moved from a house she was sharing with four others, in Baldwin Street, to a bedsit in Coldharbour Road. She was thrilled when she told her mum she was living in her own place.

At Shirley's funeral her family were amazed by the number of people they did not know. One friend who had got to know her in Bristol flew from Ireland to pay his last respects, and others have travelled to Cheltenham since to visit Shirley's grave.

Mrs Nelder said: "She had some good friends, who stayed close to her, from friends in school to her friends in Bristol."

Her family say it is no mystery that the memory of her kind personality still touches people nearly a year after her death.

22/01/2002 - Murder Charge Man in Court - Bristol Evening Post

A man charged with the murder of Bristol barmaid Shirley Cotton-Betteridge appeared in court in Bristol today. Paul McMilian, aged 21, of Martson Road, Knowle, is accused of murdering Miss Cotton-Betteridge, aged 22, on August 29th last year.
Bespectacled McMilian, who was wearing a khaki-coloured T-shirt, spoke only to confirm his name during the 10 minute hearing.
The Recorder of Bristol, Judge Tom Crowther, QC, extended custody time limits to April 8th and ordered that there should be another progress report on the course of the trial produced by March 8th. McMilian made no application for bail through his barrister Micheal Fitton. Miss Cotton-Betteridge, who also worked as a part time hairdresser, was found dead at the pub on the City's thriving waterfront.
Miss Cotton-Betteridge, who was orginally from Cheltenham, moved to Bristol in August 1999 and had previously worked at Dave & Busters in Cribbs Causeway.