Father of 16 given life for Dundee stabbing

A MAN once described as “Britain’s most feckless father”, after he had 16 children with a string of different women, has been jailed for life for a vicious stabbing outside a pub.

A trial heard how Jamie Cumming’s blade sliced through James Getty’s heart lungs and liver after a row at a birthday party. At the High Court in Edinburgh yesterday, judge Lady Clark of Calton told Cumming, 36, that he must serve at least 17 years before he can apply for ­parole.

“A man has died – as the jury found – as a result of your actions,” she told him. The judge added that the use of a knife in a public place would always be treated seriously.

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Medics told a trial they would have been unable to save 29-year-old Mr Getty, even if the stabbing had been in a hospital car park.

Cumming tried to blame another man for the attack on the corner of Mains Road and Mid Road in Dundee on 1 June last year, but a jury found him guilty of murder.

Father-of-three Mr Getty of Hill Street, Dundee, had gone to the Maltman pub for a 50th birthday celebration for James Kelbie. Mr Getty clashed with Cumming in the pub toilet and came out bleeding from a gash above his eye – telling his friends that Cumming had punched him. Mr Getty then left the pub, followed by Cumming.

Mr Kelbie, the man Cumming tried to blame for the stabbing, attempted to separate the struggling pair. Moments later, Mr Getty collapsed with blood pouring from his chest. He died before he could reach Dundee’s Ninewells Hospital.

Meanwhile, Cumming sent a number of text messages to say “goodbye” to former girlfriends. Blood on his clothes and shoes also linked him to the stabbing.

The trial heard of a bizarre aftermath to the murder when Cumming appealed to underworld figure George Kerr to help him get rid of incriminating items. Mr Kerr sat with a boa constrictor around his neck as he drove his Jaguar through the streets of Dundee with Cumming as a passenger.

When arrested two days later, carrying a bag of blood-stained clothes, Cumming told police: “I have thrown my life away.”

Yesterday, defence advocate Jonathan Crowe said Cumming stuck to his story that he had not stabbed Mr Getty. Lady Clark asked if Cumming had shown remorse, and the lawyer replied: “He has shown no remorse other than a general empathy for the victim and the victim’s family.”

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The court heard that Cumming has a record for road-traffic offences and a previous conviction for a minor assault – when he was fined £150 and ordered to pay his victim £100 compensation.

Two years ago, Cumming was described as “Britain’s most feckless father” after his mother Lorraine, branded him a sexual predator who loved chasing teenagers when it emerged he had fathered 16 children by 14 different mothers. She said: “I am bitterly disappointed with how he lives his life.”

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