New parole hearing for Tasmin Glass who planned murder of ex-boyfriend Steven Donaldson

A woman jailed for instigating and planning the brutal murder of her ex-boyfriend will bid for freedom at a parole hearing on Friday.

Tasmin Glass is scheduled to appear before the Parole Board for Scotland for a third time after she was jailed for her role in the murder of 27-year-old oil worker Steven Donaldson five years ago.

Glass has already had her case heard twice this year – with the panel deferring the decision both times due to a lack of information.

The date for the new hearing is the day before a memorial motorbike ride in honour of Mr Donaldson. The convoy will travel from his home town of Arbroath to her home town of Kirriemuir in Angus.

If the panel decide to release Glass, she would likely leave prison on the same day as the memorial.

Glass, then aged 20, lured Mr Donaldson, who was the father of her unborn child, to a deadly rendezvous in June 2018 where she had arranged for two accomplices to carry out an attack at a play park in Kirriemuir.

Two men – Callum Davidson and Steven Dickie – were convicted of murder, while Glass was found guilty of culpable homicide.

She may serve just half of her ten-year jail sentence if the board finds in her favour.

Speaking ahead of Friday’s hearing, a spokesperson for the Donaldson family said: “We need a decision this time.”

“Twice already we have built ourselves up to learn what the outcome will be. Twice already we have prepared ourselves for the worst news that she will be released after serving only five years.

“And twice already no decision has been reached, leaving us in limbo.

“This time around we need a decision – we need to know if she is going to be freed and if so what, if any, conditions will be imposed regarding that release.”

Dickie and Davidson attacked Mr Donaldson after he had arranged to meet Glass, believing they would be meeting to discuss their relationship.

Mr Donaldson, 27, was initially attacked at the Peter Pan children’s play park at Kirriemuir, before he was transported to the nearby Loch of Kinnordy Nature Reserve.

There, he was hit again on the head and body with a knife and a baseball bat and was repeatedly struck on the neck with a heavy, bladed weapon before his car was set on fire.

One of the men convicted for murdering Mr Donaldson – Steven Dickie – took his own life in prison in 2019.

The Scottish Prison Service confirmed that Dickie had died at HMP Perth.

On the same day that Dickie was found dead, appeal judges rejected an appeal from Glass against her sentence.