A Lanarkshire thug who brutally murdered his neighbour by smacking him with a shovel and stabbing him 9 occasions has been jailed for a minimal 21 years.
Nicholas Henry attacked Daniel Greer in a backyard within the Greengairs space of Airdrie on October 17 2020.
He then dragged Daniel’s physique again into the sufferer’s Rankin Crescent dwelling, the place his father made the grim discovery two days later.
The 45-year-old was right now (Wednesday) jailed for all times on the Excessive Court docket in Glasgow by decide Lord Scott, after being convicted of homicide following a trial final month.
Police expressed their sympathy to the Greer household and thanked native residents for his or her help with the enquiry following right now’s sentencing.
It emerged that Henry had beforehand been jailed for 12 years in 2011 for attempting to kill a person, together with nearly severing his hand.
The homicide trial had heard from a neighbour of the boys, who had seen Henry assaulting 33-year-old Daniel within the early-hours assault.
She instructed jurors: “I noticed Nicholas in my backyard with Daniel, who had his hand on his head saying ‘go away me, go away me’. Nicholas was saying: ‘Stand up you f***ing b***ard’.”
The girl noticed the killer strike Daniel with a shovel and stamp on him, and watched Henry drag the sufferer away earlier than she closed her blinds.
Henry went on to ditch the knife in a close-by subject. He later instructed a good friend who spoke to him about Daniel: “Don’t fear, you'll not be seeing him once more, he's gone.”
In his closing speech, prosecutor Euan Cameron mentioned Henry had repeatedly knifed Daniel on the neck, chest, abdomen and again and that the sufferer had additionally suffered a number of bruises and a bleed to the mind.
Mr Cameron had mentioned: “He struck him with such a drive that the knife left a notch in considered one of his ribs and minimize open a vein in his liver.
“Henry took him again to his dwelling the place he left him to bleed to demise.”
In his proof, Henry denied homicide and claimed he had been defending himself in opposition to an allegedly armed Daniel.
Following the sentencing, DCI Frank Travers of Police Scotland’s main investigation workforce mentioned: “Daniel died because of a violent assault and his household have been left completely devastated.
“Though [this] conviction can’t change what occurred, I hope that it may possibly convey them a minimum of a level of closure. Our ideas stay with them at this extraordinarily troublesome time.
“Violence like this has no place in our society and we'll proceed to work intently with our companions to convey perpetrators to justice
“I’d additionally wish to thank the native individuals within the Greengairs and Airdrie communities for his or her help throughout this inquiry.
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