A WOMAN who was part of a gang that tortured a vulnerable man to death has been jailed for 12 years.
Scott Blackwood, 30, was battered, stabbed, stamped on, strangled and tied to a bath before an attempt was made to set him on fire.
Georgina Smith, 22, unleashed the violence on Scott, along with co-accused Allan Nicol, 36, and Thomas Moore, 26, despite claiming that she loved him.
She was found guilty of culpable homicide. Nicol and Moore were convicted of murdering Scott at Wheatley Road, Saltcoats, on July 3 or 4, 2013. Last month they were jailed for life and ordered to serve at least 20 years each.
Yesterday Judge Lord McEwan told Smith: "You have been found guilty by the jury of the culpable homicide of Scott Blackwood, a litany of horrific assaults on this young man.
"In your evidence you said you loved him, well, each man kills the thing he loves and that is what you have done."
Lord McEwan said that three victim impact statements from Scott's family revealed the consequences for them of his death are "dire to put it mildly".
Smith showed no emotion as she was led away to begin her sentence.
Scott was relentlessly bullied before he was set upon. He suffered 72 injuries, including scalds and chemical burns. He also suffered 13 stab wounds.
Defence QC Neil Murray, representing Smith, said that she was a vulnerable young woman who had had a horrific upbringing and childhood.
He told the court: "Miss Smith continues to deny any involvement in the death of Mr Blackwood."
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