Bullies sentenced

Two teenage girls sent to a detention centre for three months yesterday for their part in a savage gang attack on a schoolmate who later killed herself, were last night travelling to Scotland's only women's prison.

Michelle McBratney, 17, and Lee Ann Murray, 16, were flown from Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis to spend the night in Inverness before being transferred today to the young offenders unit at Cornton Vale Prison in Stirlingshire. The prison has seen a number of suicides among inmates recently.

The two girls are expected to spend the rest of their sentence in the adjacent young offenders unit, subject to an appeal. The Scottish Prison Service has pointed out there are no youth detention centres in Scotland.

Earlier, Sheriff Ian Cameron told the pair at Stornaway Sherriff Court that they had "evilly" taken it on themselves to ensure Katherine Jane Morrison, 16, could not safely walk the streets of Stornoway.

Katherine was found dead in her bedroom in Stornoway inFebruary last year. In a suicide note she said bullying by certain girls had become too much for her.