Three men jailed for organised murder of man in his Ibrox home

A killer who recruited two strangers to help him brutally murder a man in his own home has been jailed for at least 18 years.

Train worker Paul Green, 31, and his accomplices Lee Noonan, 21, and Robbie Brown, 19 attacked James Watt with knives and a golf club at Copland Quadrant, Ibrox, in Glasgow.

All three were sentenced to life imprisonment.

Noonan was jailed for a minimum term of 21 years and Brown was ordered to serve 18 years and five months before he is eligible to apply for parole.

A judge told Green that he considered that after an earlier abortive assault on Mr Ward he had asked the younger men to join him in a further attack on him.

Lord Summers said: "You then participated in what can only be described as a frenzied attack on James Watt."

The judge told Green he had persisted over a period of time to exact retribution on his victim who he earlier tracked down.

Lord Summers told Noonan that he has "an appalling record of previous convictions" including many offences involving offensive weapons.

The judge said: "Your criminal record demonstrates you are a dangerous young man."

He told Brown that like Noonan he was "a willing participant in a brutal attack" on Mr Ward who had no previous dealings with him.

All three had denied murdering Mr Watt, 40, in the attack on February 23 last year but were earlier found guilty of the crime. Green was also convicted of assaulting Mr Watt with a pick axe handle earlier the same day.

Green, a Scotrail maintenance worker, went looking for his victim after hearing that he had attacked his father.

He saw Mr Watt in Carmichael Street and stopped his BMW and struck the victim at least four times with the pick axe handle.

Green said: "I was trying to scare him. He was saying it wasn't him that hit my dad."

But he went on to enlist Noonan, from Ibrox, in Glasgow, and Brown, from Edinburgh, into the later murderous attack on Mr Watt.

Mr Watt was stabbed six times at his flat and battered repeatedly over the head and body with a golf club which broke in two. He was also repeatedly hit with unknown objects and struck with an unknown sharp weapon. The victim's body was found in his living room by his father.

Noonan and Brown had armed themselves with knives and gone out looking for three other men prior to the murder. Noonan also had a golf club.

Forensic evidence helped convict the trio, who were caught on CCTV, of the savage murder.

Noonan carried out a further serious attack on Rangers fan Gary Crawford, 52, the day after murder. Mr Crawford was wounded with a metal pen after he left a match at Ibrox stadium with friends. One year of Noonan's 21 year minimum term was attributable to that assault.

Brown gave police his brother's name, a fake date of birth and an address in the Saughton area of Edinburgh and provided DNA samples, fingerprints and a statement using the false identity following the murder in an attempt to pervert the course of justice.

John Scott QC, for Green, told the court that despite a difficult childhood he went on to have a good employment history.

Defence counsel John Scullion QC, for Noonan, said he had never attended secondary school for a single day.

Thomas Ross QC, for Brown, said he had shown what appeared to be genuine remorse and realised his conduct had brought grief to many others.