Life Sentence for Man who Murdered Father of Four

A Crook who murdered a dad of four in a mindless attack has been jailed for life. Despicable Paul Boyle, 38, repeatedly plunged a blade into defenceless Kenneth McNeill,52, at a flat in Yoker, Glasgow, in May 2014. The High Court in Edinburgh heard how paramedics battled to save Mr McNeill's life. But Boyle had cut an artery in his victim's leg causing him to bleed to death. The story emerged after Boyle, of Anniesland, Glasgow, was found guilty last month by a jury of murder. Sentence had been deferred until Thursday for the court to obtain reports about Boyle's character. Passing sentence, judge Lord Stewart ordered that Boyle must serve a minimum of 16 years before he is allowed to apply for parole. Sitting at the High Court in Edinburgh, Lord Stewart told the murderer: "The law has set the sentence for the crime of murder at life imprisonment. "I must impose a punishment part to your sentence and that will be 16 years." Boyle, who has previous convictions for assault and theft, had spent five days denying that he had been the man who killed Mr McNeill. Shortly before his arrest, Police Scotland detectives revealed that Mr McNeill was assaulted after somebody had broken into the Dumbarton Road flat. Mr McNeill was not the householder at the property but police managed to piece together enough evidence to bring him to justice. Boyle's former girlfriend Fiona McInally,36,gave evidence for the Crown during proceedings. She said that following the fatal attack, Boyle had told her that he had assaulted someone. Ms McInally, a Clydebank College student, told prosecution lawyer David Nicholson that she noticed he had a blood stain on his arm. She said: "Paul said someone had stabbed him on the arm and he marked their face." Ms McInally also told the court that she eventually ended her relationship with Mr Boyle. In his closing speech, Mr Nicholson told the jury that there was enough evidence available to prove Boyle's guilt. He said that medics had established that Mr McNeill's injuries were defensive in nature. Mr Nicholson added: "This was a sustained an determined attack on Mr McNeill. "His injuries are defensive in nature precisely because he was being attacked. "I invite you ladies and gentlemen of the jury to convict Paul Boyle on the charge of murder." Boyle's defence advocate Donald Findlay QC told the jury that investigators couldn't establish a motive for the attack on Mr McNeill. Mr Findlay added that this lack of motive meant that his client was innocent of murder. He added: "There is no motive because Paul Boyle and the deceased did not each other." The jury disagreed with Mr Findlay's arguments and returned a guilty verdict on Friday afternoon. Following conviction, Mr Nicholson submitted a schedule of Boyle's previous convictions to Lord Stewart. He also submitted victim impact statements from Mr McNeill's relatives.

On Thursday, defence advocate John McElroy told the court that his client had spent his life battling with drug addiction. Mr McElroy added: "At the time of the offence, he was addicted to valium. He fully appreciates that Mr McNeill has left a family behind. "Through me, Mr Boyle wishes to make an apology to them." Lord Stewart then ordered Boyle to be taken to the cells of the high court to begin his sentence.