Distraught mum says her daughter might still be alive if killer husband had been refused bail or made to wear GPS tag
Stacy Hunter’s mother says the justice system failed her daughter, who was found dead at a cottage in Houston, Renfrewshire, after her estranged husband Jim Mair had been released on bail. She argues that Mair, who had been charged with assaulting Stacy earlier that month, should either have been refused bail or fitted with a GPS tag that could have alerted authorities if he approached her home.
The case has prompted calls for “Stacy’s Law”, a proposed Scottish GPS-monitoring scheme for domestic abuse suspects or perpetrators assessed as high risk, using exclusion zones around victims’ homes. GPS monitoring has been used in England and Wales since 2018, while Scotland mainly uses older home-linked radio-frequency tags; an electronic-monitoring expert said GPS could help but could not guarantee protection. First Minister John Swinney said the campaign would receive serious consideration, while prosecutors offered to meet Stacy Hunter’s family.
- Family says bail and monitoring failures contributed to Stacy Hunter’s death.
- Campaign seeks GPS tags for high-risk domestic abusers.
- Experts say GPS can help, but cannot ensure safety.