John Johnston has attempt to have case taken to Supreme Court refused A killer who raped a woman before throwing her out the window of a high-rise tower block has had his attempt to have his case taken to the Supreme Court refused. John Johnstone, 53, raped 27-year-old Lizzie Duffy then pushed her from a sixth floor window of a block of flats in Royston, Glasgow, in July 1997. The 27-year-old had let Johnstone into her home because she had grown up with him, before he launched the attack on her. He admitted culpable homicide on the grounds of diminished responsibility and was sent to the State Hospital in Carstairs. In August, Johnstone had an appeal against his sentence refused by the Court of Session. Lawyers acting on behalf of Johnstone then lodged an application with the Court of Session to have his case taken to the UK Supreme Court on the basis of a number of issues. The grounds for the application to appeal to the Supreme Court included claims that he was subject to inhumane and degrading treatment and that there was an "absence of a statutory regime for the transfer of persons from hospital to prison." The other issues relate to the way the Court of Session has "interpreted the meaning of miscarriage of justice." However appeal judges have rejected out the application. A written ruling by Lord Carloway read: "This application is an extraordinary one, since it purports to raise compatibility issues, notwithstanding the absence of any reference to a breach of any article of the Convention during what was a lengthy appeal hearing. It is not an easy task to understand precisely what the scope or range of all of the compatibility issues which the applicant seeks to raise are. In so far as the applicant seeks to challenge the custodial regime, that is a civil matter and not for the criminal courts. This application is accordingly refused.