Beer argument killer Reece Sweeney jailed for life

A 22-year-old man who stabbed his friend to death in a "silly argument" over beer has been jailed for life.

Reece Sweeney was told he will serve a minimum of 16 years for the murder of Jamie McGready at a flat in the Govan area of Glasgow last August.

Sweeney, who had been on bail at the time, had denied killing "father figure" Mr McGready.

Sentencing him at the High Court in Edinburgh, judge Lord Boyd said he had "wasted his life" on drink and drugs.

A six-day trial at in Glasgow in December heard that the two men had been at a flat in Summerton Place where Michael O'Halloran lived with his 19-year-old son Sean-Paul.

The teenager recalled there being a "silly argument" between Mr McGready, nicknamed Jaggy, and Sweeney.

Asked by prosecutor Bill McVicar what it was about, the teenager replied: "I think it was about cans of beer or something."

Mr O'Halloran said Sweeney "lunged" at Mr McGready and that was when he was stabbed.

The victim was said to have stated: "You have done me. You have killed me."

Mr O'Halloran snr, who had known the victim since he was a child, tried to save Mr McGready - whose partner was pregnant - by administering CPR for 12 minutes.

"I was shouting at Jamie: 'Stay with us, think of your daughter, think of your partner'," he said.

"I was trying to get a pulse, but there was no pulse. I was just telling Jamie not to let go."

He had suffered a number of wounds including one in the middle of the chest and later died in hospital.

At the High Court in Edinburgh, defence advocate Victoria Young asked the judge to take her client's age into account in passing sentence.

The judge Lord Boyd told Sweeney: "You describe Mr McGready as a friend but he seems to be more like a father figure to you"

Passing sentence, the judge made reference to a report written by social workers about Sweeney's background.

"The social work report makes depressing reading," he said.

"It tells of how you do not go out anywhere without being armed with a knife in the pretence that you need it for your own protection.

"I have read of the devastating impact that the loss of Mr McGready has had on his family and friends.

"You left school without any qualifications and you have never had a job. You have never amounted to anything. You have wasted your life with drink and drugs."