Dundee man Jackie Doig has been told to expect a lengthy jail sentence after being found guilty of killing father-of-four Frankie Melvin.
Doig, 42, stabbed Mr Melvin several times during an altercation on Newbigging Drive and Spitalfield Place in Arbroath.
He went on trial at the High Court in Dundee, accused of murdering the 34-year-old in August 2020.
After five days of evidence, a jury returned a majority guilty verdict to culpable homicide on Tuesday morning.
Doig had admitted stabbing Mr Melvin, but insisted he was acting in self defence.
He told jurors on Monday: “If it wasn’t him, it would be me.”
Video played
Over the course of the trial, the court was shown harrowing footage of Mr Melvin’s final moments.
A mobile video clip showed him running away from a knife-wielding Doig at around 6pm on August 26, 2020. Mr Melvin had died about an hour later.
He was stabbed by Doig five times, the fatal wound being inflicted to his left buttock, which wrenched into his pelvis and severed his superior gluteal artery.
Giving evidence at his trial, Doig said he had aimed his stabs “below the waist” of Mr Melvin.
He accepted that he was responsible for Mr Melvin’s death.
At one point, in an almost incoherent rant, the killer accused the Crown witnesses of colluding against him, claiming they had all “gotten together” to conspire he had “murdered” Mr Melvin in a rage over an apparent drug theft.
Former friends
The court heard the two had been friends, having even visited Frankie’s mother earlier in the day.
Dawn Reid, who sat through all five-days of the trial in Dundee, told the court Doig had slumped over on her living room sofa that afternoon and that he had scared Mr Melvin’s young children, who lived with her.
The pair then left and were spotted in the Timmergreens Co-Op by staff, who noted they were noisy and agitated as they did their shopping.
Doig and Mr Melvin then went to the flat of the Smith brothers on Newton Avenue. Older sibling Philip told the court of a “fight” between Frankie and Doig which caused a quantity of street valium to spill on to their living room carpet.
A video, filmed by a young teenager from his Newbigging Drive bedroom window, showed a “screaming” Mr Melvin running away from Doig, who pursued him up Spitalfield Place.
Mr Melvin was let in to the home of Jackie Knight, who bravely stood up to Doig, telling him he could not get at Frankie while she was in his home.
Ms Knight and her family tried to save Mr Melvin, using towels to stem the flow of blood as he lay dying on the hallway floor.
His loyal dog, Lassie, lay by his feet
But by the time an ambulance arrived he had almost passed.
He was declared dead by 7.10pm that night.
Jury decision
The Crown had moved for Doig to be found guilty of murder, but a majority jury returned a verdict of culpable homicide, finding Doig responsible for killing Mr Melvin instead.
Judge Lorna Drummond called for reports and deferred sentence until March 21.
She said: “You have been found guilty by majority of the culpable homicide of Frankie Melvin.
“You should expect a lengthy custodial sentence.
“You have a lengthy record but in order to inform me for this sentence I am going to call for criminal and social work reports.”
