Man guilty of trying to murder ex-fiancée after wedding call-off

A MAN has been convicted of trying to kill his ex-fiancée days after she called off their wedding.

Steven McKee stabbed Lisa Whyte in the neck at their home in Slamannan, Stirlingshire, after telling her: "If I can't have you, nobody will."

McKee alleged Miss Whyte, 32, was injured while trying to stop him committing suicide - a claim prosecutors branded "ridiculous".

A jury yesterday found him guilty of attempted murder following a week-long trial at the High Court in Glasgow.

It emerged McKee has four assault convictions stretching back to 1991.

The 38-year-old - who was remanded in custody - will be sentenced next month. Miss Whyte was hugged by friends and relatives in the courtroom before leaving. Later, in a statement, she said she had been left "devastated" by her ordeal.

She added: "My family and I are thankful it has drawn to a close. We are all satisfied with the guilty verdict and, although it will never compensate for the pain and upset he has caused, we are relieved that justice has been done.

"I would like to thank all the medical professionals for saving my life. Under the circumstances I would like to try and put this horrendous ordeal behind me and concentrate on my children and therefore would appreciate my privacy."

The court heard how the couple had an argument after Miss Whyte came back from her hen night in Newcastle on 18 July last year. She said McKee had earlier pestered her with phone calls, unhappy she had gone away.

On her return, McKee demanded she go home but Miss Whyte wanted to stay with her friends at a local bar.

Miss Whyte said: "He was very, very angry. I don't recall him being that angry before. I was very upset. There was no reason to be like that."

She said it was the "final nail in the coffin" for their seven-year relationship.

When she got home, the payroll administrator told McKee she was not getting married that coming Friday.

They had been due to wed at Falkirk Registration Office and had planned to go away with their children to Turkey.

McKee - who cut up passports in front of their two young daughters - later took an overdose of painkillers and spent a brief time in hospital.

The court heard that Miss Whyte agreed to meet McKee at their family home the day after they were due to get married.

She told the jury: "He was back asking me was there any way of a reconciliation."

She went on: "He then said: 'well, if I cannot have you, nobody will have you'.

"He started attacking me and saying that he was going to kill me. He was bending over me - at no point did I stand up. I was in disbelief."

She lost consciousness and next recalled waking up under a rug in her house.

Miss Whyte: "I realised that there was something wrong with me - I was really dizzy.

"I was aware that there was something in my neck. It was a knife in my neck."The court heard how the knife was within "touching distance" of severing major blood vessels.