Dundee man Arran Fender has been jailed for 12 years after being found guilty of the killing of Gary McMillan, by a jury at the High Court in Edinburgh.
Fender, 31, was charged with the murder of Mr McMillan, 44, in May last year but was instead found guilty of the reduced charge of culpable homicide.
The 14-person jury found Fender, 31, a prisoner at HM Prison Perth, guilty of the charge by majority decision, after four hours of deliberation.
A unanimously guilty verdict to a charge of possessing a knife in a public place on May 15 was also returned.
The court heard Fender had three previous convictions for possession of a knife and three convictions for assault — one of which involved the use of a knife.
Judge Lady Carmichael sentenced Fender to 12 years in prison for culpable homicide, and nine months for knife possession, to run concurrently.
Fender denied the killing, claiming he had acted in self-defence when he stabbed the 44-year-old grandfather at the junction of Lawton Road and Lawton Terrace in the early hours of May 16 last year.
During the trial the court was told the pair had once been “the best of friends” by the deceased’s 22-year-old daughter, Brogan McMillan, but had fallen out months before her father’s death.
The “bad blood” centred around Fender’s relationship with Jessica Holt, 22, who he was seeing while also being romantically involved with Jill Halliday, 31, the mother of his child.
On May 15, hours before the killing, the two men arranged to meet at Lochee Park for a “square go”.
Fender had referred to “killing” Mr McMillan and “putting him in a box” in text messages, but there was no violence at the park.
Around 2.15am on May 16, Fender arrived drunk at Mr McMillan’s house, armed with a double-edged dagger in a sheath. Mr McMillan and Ms Holt were drinking and taking cocaine and amphetamine in the property.
Fender began shouting up at the window for Ms Holt. Both Ms Holt and Mr McMillan came to the close door, but Fender walked away up Lawton Terrace.
Mr McMillan was then said to have armed himself with a large kitchen knife and “pursued” Fender, meeting him at the junction of Lawton Terrace and Lawton Road.
Mr McMillan died from “multiple stab wounds to the chest” with five knife wounds recorded, the court heard.
The fatal blow penetrated his left lung and he was said to have likely died “within minutes”.
Other wounds were to the lower left leg and another missed his heart by millimetres.
It was the pathologist who performed the post-mortem who said the knife used to kill Mr McMillan was likely to be the blood-stained one Mr McMillan had armed himself with.
However, Fender claimed he used the dagger, which was later recovered in a communal garden area of his old address.
Fender told the court he was “devastated” to find out Mr McMillan had died and said he “respected” and “cared about him” but had been “fighting for his life”. However, the Crown noted the depth of the stab wounds, and force needed to inflict them, as well as the apparent “defensive injuries” the deceased had sustained.
Other evidence described Fender’s alleged attempts to conceal his guilt, with his mother, Annie Hamilton, admitting to disposing of his blood-stained clothing in a bin chute in Landsdowne Court hours after the incident.
However, not guilty pleas to charges of attempting to pervert the course of justice, having a threatening weapon in public and threatening Mr McMillan were accepted by the Crown.
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