A Good Samaritan who handed a lost handbag into a police station was murdered by having his throat slit after he was mistakenly accused of stealing it.
Frederick McGettigan had done his “civic duty” by giving the item to officers when he discovered it beside a canal in July last year.
But Kirk McIntyre later turned up at the 51-year-old’s flat in Auchinairn, Glasgow, wrongly believing Mr McGettigan had taken the bag from the house of someone he knew.
McIntyre then attacked his frail victim and slit his throat with a knife.
McIntyre denied murder during a trial at the High Court in Glasgow, but jurors heard he had once confessed to having done “something bad”.
He has now been jailed for life and ordered to serve a minimum of 20 years following his conviction on Tuesday.
It emerged he already had a long history of violence and had recently been freed having previously been jailed for a serious assault.
A judge told McIntyre, of Perth, that the killing of Mr McGettigan was “barbaric and cruel”.
The trial heard how Mr McGettigan, known as Ricky, had found the bag at the Forth and Clyde canal in Kirkintilloch, East Dunbartonshire.
The discovery came during an early-hours walk that Mr McGettigan would often take as he suffered from the ear condition tinnitus. Mr McGettigan then handed the bag into the local police station.
But days later, on August 6, McIntyre suddenly appeared at his door in a fury before brutally attacking his victim with a blade and leaving him for dead.
The alarm was later raised after a friend of Mr McGettigan became concerned when he could not contact him.
The court heard William Elliot eventually went to his flat on August 9, where he found Mr McGettigan’s body.
Describing the scene, he recalled: “I got no answer then opened the letterbox and shouted through.
“I realised then the door was unlocked. There was blood on the hall carpet. I looked in the kitchen and saw Ricky lying on his back.”
He added: “His face and hair was covered in blood. I took my phone out and dialled 999.”
The trial heard McIntyre later met a social worker and admitted he had done “something bad” and that it was “high court level”.
In his speech to jurors, prosecutor Iain McSporran, QC, said: “He was not just confessing to a crime – he was confessing to this crime.”
He added Mr McGettigan died “as a result of doing his civic duty” by going to police with the bag.
After the verdict, the court was told McIntyre had 16 previous assault convictions.
Lord Mulholland told McIntyre: “He was a man who had done you no harm.
“You sought him out believing he was responsible. He was not responsible and had merely handed in the bag as any good citizen would do.
“What you did was barbaric and cruel. You slit his neck and left him to his fate.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article