Ex-soldier found guilty of long-term friend's murder
Stephen McGhee stabbed Kevan Doyle in Wishaw in 2022
A former soldier who claimed he had gone to his friend's home to give him a mobile phone has been convicted of his murder.
Stephen McGhee stabbed Kevan Doyle at the 43 year-old's house in Wishaw, Lanarkshire on October 28, 2022.
McGhee, 48, said he had only went there to help Mr Doyle, who he stated appeared down on his luck at the time.
The thug denied going to attack the man - instead alleging he was effectively ambushed by him and others before being confronted with a weapon.
He said Mr Doyle must have been fatally struck after both fell during the struggle.
Caught on camera
However, prosecutors said CCTV footage of him lashing out three times on the doorstep of the house was him brutally attacking Mr Doyle.
McGhee - who served in the armed forces for six years - now faces a life sentence after he was today convicted of murder following a trial at the High Court in Glasgow.
It emerged he already had a history of violent offences.
Jurors heard the men had known each other for around 15 years at the time.
McGhee said he had "expressed concern" about Mr Doyle as he appeared "visibly thinner" than he had been.
They were in each other's company of the day of the killing.
McGhee told the trial he planned to help his friend get food for his house and that he also had a spare phone that he would give him.
McGhee later returned to his home before he said he decided to return only to hand in the mobile.
The ex-squaddie denied planning to kick the front door in instead claiming it was then "swung open" and he was pulled inside.
Mr Doyle, the victim's cousin and a woman were there.
Fatal injuries
The court heard Mr Doyle ended up suffering a fatal wound to the chest as well as another to the head.
McGhee fled the scene and claimed he had only realised something serious had occurred when he later spotted police tape at the property.
He told the trial: "I could not believe what had happened had resulted in his death."
Prosecutors instead stated McGhee had attacked the victim with a screwdriver or a knife or similar weapon.
Advocate depute William Frain-Bell KC put to McGhee that the three blows caught on camera were "forceful, violent and immediate".
But, McGhee said that was not him striking Mr Doyle and was instead him trying to get away from the victim's cousin at the doorstep.
After the verdict, Mr Frain-Bell told judge Lord Young a number of Mr Doyle's relatives had completed victim impact statements describing their loss.
Details were not read in court.
McGhee will learn the minimum he will spend behind bars when he is sentenced on December 12 in Edinburgh.