Cousins guilty of brutal murder of stranger

Published on Wednesday 18 June 2008 14:19

TWO killer cousins were facing life sentences today after brutally murdering a stranger as he walked to work.

John Jenkins, 27, died from multiple stab wounds in the attack after "being in the wrong place at the wrong time" as he encountered the pair after leaving his sister's home.

The victim was assaulted by 23-year-old John Edgar and 18-year-old David McCaig at a footpath in Ladywell, Livingston, in West Lothian.

Mr Jenkins' sister, Janet, 33, described her deceased brother as a "gentle giant".

She said she had not known him to get into fights and never found him aggressive. She said: "He was just placid.

"He was a kind, loving, funny person. He just loved life. He just enjoyed playing football with my son and other kids from the neighbourhood."

She added: "I had actually heard in the morning that there had been a death in the area, but I didn't get told officially it was my brother until that night. My mum and dad came in with police officers and told me it was John."

She said that to her knowledge her brother did not know either of his killers.

Chef Mr Jenkins left her home in Livingston on December 1 last year, taking a different route from normal to visit a shop.

This decision led him to the fatal encounter with Edgar and McCaig at the town's Loan Path.

He was caught on CCTV camera at about 8.30am and within 11 minutes a paramedic was pronouncing him dead.

Advocate depute Simon Collins told a jury at the High Court in Edinburgh: "He had been the victim of a horrific attack in which he sustained multiple fatal stab wounds.

"There can have been little or any time for a significant argument to develop between the deceased and his attackers.

"As far as the Crown can tell this was a crime without reason. There seems to have been no motive other than the desire by the attackers to inflict extreme violence on another human being."

Mr Collins added: "John Jenkins was in the wrong place at the wrong time."

Edgar, of Scotstoun, Glasgow, and McCaig, of Stonebank, Livingston, had been drinking earlier. Edgar was still wearing the clothes he had worn to a funeral the previous day.

Mr Jenkins suffered a total of nine stab and slash wounds most of them to the back of his body.

A pathologist said there were no defensive injuries to the victims hands or forearms, suggesting he was taken unawares.

Both Mr Jenkins' lungs collapsed in the attack and he suffered "catastrophic" internal bleeding.

Edgar and McCaig had both denied murdering Mr Jenkins by repeatedly striking him with a knife and stamping, punching and kicking him in the attack.

But the jury unanimously convicted Edgar of the murder and found McCaig guilty of the crime on a majority verdict.

McCaig, who was still 17 at the time, told detectives that he saw Edgar hit the man in the back and thought he was punching him.

He said: "I didn't even know he had a knife until after it."

The court heard that Edgar had gone through to Livingston after rowing with his girlfriend and a relative after attending a funeral. A caller at McCaig's house heard him say someone was "going to get burst".

Temporary judge Roger Craik QC told Edgar and McCaig: "In light of the jury's verdict you both stand convicted of the murder of John Jenkins. In that situation there is only one sentence the court can pass."

But the judge said he would continue the case for background reports on the pair before fixing the minimum terms they must serve under a life sentence.

He told the jurors in the trial: "The subject matter has been very grim."