THE killer who slaughtered defenceless animals at Gourock petting zoo eight years ago could finally face justice after a Tele campaign scored a landmark victory.

Scottish Government ministers are preparing to remove the time bar restriction for such cruel crimes that we and our readers have long called for, paving the way for the perpetrator to be hauled into court.

Law change plans are being prepared in response to our Justice for Pets push, which would allow the Crown Office to prosecute serious animal welfare cases at solemn level, thus eliminating the frustrating time constraint.

The change has come after Inverclyde MSP Stuart McMillan backed the Telegraph's rallying cry by raising the matter in parliament on a number of occasions.

He also secured a meeting with rural affairs and natural environment minister, Mairi Gougeon, to press the point.

Mr McMillan said: "I'm delighted that the Scottish Government is looking to strengthen animal welfare legislation.

"These proposed changes would mean that for the offence of causing unnecessary suffering, like what happened at Pets' Corner in Gourock, no such time bar loophole would exist due to the penalties of these offences being increased."

Mr McMillan added: "Supporters should be proud that their pressure, along with the campaign by the Greenock Telegraph, will now help change animal welfare legislation for the better."

Police who investigated the 2011 Pets' Corner outrage found DNA evidence in 2013 directly linking a then 18-year-old man to the offence, and arrested him.

But prosecutors were powerless to take the case any further because the breakthrough came more than six months after the commission of the crime.

The upcoming change to the legislation will provide an opportunity for the case to be revisited.

A staggering 5,400 people responded to the Justice for Pets campaign — signing up at a rate of nearly 300-a-week — and helped us take our bulging petition to the corridors of power at Holyrood.

The suspect was accused of bludgeoning helpless creatures to death with a golf club while his dog — described as 'large and powerful' — crushed others, including tiny guinea pigs, between its jaws.

In her letter to Mr McMillan following their meeting, minister Mrs Gougeon wrote: 'The Scottish Government proposes to increase the maximum available penalties for the offences of causing unnecessary suffering and for animal fighting to five years imprisonment and/or an unlimited fine.

'It intends that the most serious animal welfare offences could, in future, be prosecuted under solemn procedure, removing the statutory time limits for prosecution.

'Those proposed changes would appear to meet the concerns of those supporting the Greenock Telegraph's petition.'