A teenager was convicted Wednesday in court of murdering his girlfriend by soaking her in petrol and setting her on fire after she threatened to leave him.
Stewart Blackburn, 18, faces life in prison for setting his girlfriend ablaze and then holding the bedroom door shut, leaving her no way to escape, a crime described as "barbaric and evil."
Jessica McCagh, 17, suffered burns to more than 80 percent of her body in April this year and died in hospital.
Her final words to her father were: "I don't want to die, Dad - I love you."
Prosecutor Frank Mulholland told the High Court in Scotland's Livingston that Blackburn had committed "a barbaric and evil act against a defenceless young woman".
"It is difficult to envisage more cruel or sadistic treatment of another human being," he told jurors.
The victim's parents, Marion and Garry, who endured days of harrowing evidence at the court, said their daughter had been killed "in the most terrible and terrifying way."
"No parent should ever have to bury a child and we hope no parent will ever have to endure the anguish we have suffered since Jessica was taken from us," they said in a statement.
The court heard during the trial that a drunk Blackburn deliberately poured a litre of petrol or more over her in a violent rage in the Scottish town of Arbroath after she threatened to break up with him.
Blackburn, who will be sentenced next year, then held a naked flame next to her.
Copyright 2009 AFP European Edition
