Maryhill man who murdered partner after she had sex with his friend is jailed

A burly thug who murdered the 'small slight' woman he intended to marry for having sex with his best friend has been jailed for life.

Despicable James McCarten, 51, lost his temper when he discovered 43-year-old Anna Rosenberg in a bedroom with widower Alan McLean in May 2015.

The High Court in Edinburgh heard how the brute left Anna - the daughter of a university professor - with more than 100 injuries after battering her to death.

But rather than hand himself in to police, the coward left his flat in Maryhill, Glasgow, and went to a pub to watching a boxing match.

He then went on a booze fuelled bender and didn't return home until the following day.

McCarten was convicted of murder last month at the High Court in Glasgow. Sentence was deferred for the court to obtain reports about his character.

On Tuesday, Judge Kenneth Maciver QC ordered McCarten to serve at least 15 years before he would be eligible to apply for parole.

He told the murderer that he had no other option but to send him to prison.

He added: "It is clear from the injuries which Miss Rosenberg sustained, and from the evidence of the pathologist, that these injuries led to restriction of her ability to breathe because of her broken ribs and the bleeding associated with the injuries to her throat, mouth and nose.

"Alongside that was pathological evidence that she aspirated blood and therefore evidence that she lived on for a period after this attack and perhaps for up to half an hour after it.

"During that period, when it must have been obvious that she was dying a slow and painful death, you did nothing to assist and within a couple of hours thereafter you changed clothes and left the house to watch, of all things, a boxing match.

"You thought nothing of her condition, performed no checks on her, and when you did return to the house the next day after drinking with friends, your first thought was to exculpate yourself, and you began crude and ultimately inept and hopeless attempts to deflect responsibility from yourself and raise issues of accident.

"You attempted to clean up the blood and the bedding, and you dressed and moved her body and you gave the emergency services and the police a false account of what had happened to her.

"Allied to your conduct the night before, this demonstrates a callous and heartless disregard for her and a selfish desire to avoid responsibility for the savage onslaught of violence which brought her life to an end."

At proceedings last month, McCarten denied being a murderer tearfully telling a jury how he had loved Anna "so much" and had planned to marry her.

The trial heard how McCarten had been dating Anna for around 18 months.

The mum had a house in Bearsden, East Dunbartonshire, but often spent time at her boyfriend's flat.

She was described as a keen gym-goer who would "not harm a fly."

Last year McCarten allowed fellow builder Alan McLean to stay with him after he had split from his lover.

However, McLean went to bed with Anna.

The 62 year-old told how he and the mum had sex in McCarten's bed while he was out on May 2 last year. The pair were stunned when they suddenly heard McCarten return home.

The killer arrived to find his friend hastily trying to put his clothes on while a terrified Anna lay in the bed. McLean said: "He was shouting and bawling 'how could you do this to me?'

"Anna kept saying she was sorry, she was crying. James was upset, but that was understandable."

McLean said McCarten went on to head butt him after asking him to take his glasses off.

Raging McCarten then kicked his friend out before launching a murderous attack on Anna.

He repeatedly punched and kicked his petrified lover leaving the flat a bloodbath.

The trial heard Anna who he also tried to throttle ~ suffered a horrific 122 injuries including multiple fractured ribs.

McCarten went on to walk out his flat to watch a boxing match at a friend's house.

McCarten claimed it was the next day when he returned that he realised Anna was dead.

In a 999 call, he said Anna was "not right" and "would not wake up."

The court heard he tried to clean up the property and bizarrely put clothes on a naked Anna.

He gave evidence during the trial and repeatedly sobbed: "Why would I murder the girl?"

McCarten admitted being responsible for the death, but insisted he did not ~realise the extent~ of his savage attack.

He said prior to the killing May 2 had been a "happy day" after getting a new job and he had also bought a pup for Anna.

But, he said he got a "terrible shock" when he walked in on his friend and Anna.

He wept: "I thought: 'how could two people who are meant to love you do that?'."

McCarten admitted he "saw red" and "unleashed" a "lot of blows" on Anna.

However, the thug insisted when he initially left his home, he did not believe Anna was dead.

McCarten - who offered to plead guilty to the reduced charge of culpable homicide - said he knew he had "destroyed" his lover's family.

He went on: "I was happy that day, joy...why would I murder someone when life was great?"

"I should not have done it - I should just have thrown the pair of them out."

But, prosecutor Tim Niven Smith put to him that Anna had been "pummelled to a pulp" adding McCarten was someone who appeared "easily riled."

McCarten was also convicted of assaulting McLean as well as a separate charge of attempting to defeat the ends of justice.

On Tuesday, defence advocate Gordon Jackson QC told the court that his client knew that he was going to be sent to prison for his actions.

Mr Jackson, the Dean of the Faculty of Advocates, said: "He found himself in a situation which was entirely of his own making."

Judge Maciver told McCarten that the evidence showed that he had spent time planning the attack on his victim.

He added: This small slight woman had injuries akin to those which may be expected in serious trauma such as a car crash, in that she had multiple rib fractures, 28 I think, a lacerated liver and spinal bone fractures. She also had a broken collarbone, throat compression and bleeding into the cavities of her brain as a consequence of heavy and repeated impacts to her face and head.

"I am forced to the view that this was a sustained, violent and brutal attack and I am clear from the evidence at trial that it was carried out more than an hour and a half after your discovery of her having had sexual intercourse with your life-long friend.

"That time period and the different approach which you took to your friend, talking to him about what had happened, allowing him to remove his glasses before you butted him, and asking him to leave the house, also leads me to believe that the murderous attack on Miss Rosenberg was carried out wilfully and cold-bloodedly for the purpose of punishing her for that liaison."

• Local News
• Shiona McCallum