A FORMER North-East student who murdered a teenager and dismembered his body has launched an appeal against his conviction.

Former Teesside Polytechnic student William Beggs, 45, was found guilty at the High Court in Edinburgh in October 2001, of killing Barry Wallace, 18, after sexually assaulting him.

He had previously been convicted of murder while a student in the region in 1987, but that was subsequently overturned on appeal.

After the 2001 trial, Beggs was described as a “predatory homosexual” and sentenced to a minimum 20 years in prison.

He was also placed on the sex offenders’ register after a jury ruled he had sexually assaulted Mr Wallace after handcuffing him by the arms and legs. The victim’s head was found washed up on a beach near Troon, in Scotland, and his limbs were discovered 60 miles away in Loch Lomond.

Beggs fled to the Netherlands and it took more than a year before he was extradited to stand trial.

Although Beggs immediately lodged an intention to challenge the conviction, it has taken several years and a succession of court hearings to reach the stage of a full appeal.

He claims he has suffered a miscarriage of justice, on the grounds of prejudicial pretrial publicity, alleged irregularities in the extradition process and the warrant used by police to search his home.

The appeal at the Court of Criminal Appeal, in Edinburgh, is expected to take two weeks.

Beggs had previously been jailed for life for the murder of barman Barry Oldham after he allegedly picked him up in Newcastle gay club Rockshots – but he was freed to kill again after 18 months.

Originally from Northern Ireland, Beggs was jailed in 1987 at Teesside Crown Court for killing Mr Oldham.

The 28-year-old was found dumped on the North York Moors with his throat slashed.

Beggs claimed he acted in self-defence when Mr Oldham made homosexual advances.

Prosecutors maintained he was killed at Beggs’ flat in Middlesbrough.

But the conviction was overturned by the Court of Appeal because the original jury had wrongly been allowed to hear evidence of other razor attacks by Beggs.

At the appeal this week, defence counsel, Chris Shead highlighted the problem of prejudicial pre-publicity in 2001, describing it as a “feeding frenzy” and a “virulent and hostile press campaign”.

The information given to the public by the media had included Beggs’ previous convictions and that he was being referred to as the “gay ripper”.

The hearing continues.