Brutal thug sentenced to 13 years for murder

A CONVICTED criminal has been jailed for life after he beat and stabbed a frail man to death in his own home.

Gerard Veldon brutally attacked David Goodhall following a row at the flat in Airdrie, Lanarkshire, in February this year.

Veldon repeatedly knifed the 63 year-old and hit him over the head with ornaments.

He then returned hours later and stabbed his dying victim again after finding him lying face down in a pool of blood.

Veldon yesterday admitted to Mr Goodhall's murder when he appeared at the High Court in Glasgow.

It emerged the 47 year-old has a lengthy criminal record - including a five-year jail term for assault in 2001.

Judge Lady Dorrian ordered he must serve a minimum 13 and a half years behind bars for the killing.

She said Mr Goodhall, who was in poor health and had recently suffered a stroke, was subjected to a "frenzied attack" involving "considerable force".

Lady Dorrian said the jail-term would have been 18 years, but for the early guilty plea.