Killer neighbour has jail term cut

James Mitchell (left) and his killer, James Drummond

The family of a man who was beaten to death by his neighbour has hit out after his killer's sentence was reduced.

James Drummond, 65, was jailed for eight years in July for the attack on 72-year old James Mitchell last year.

But it emerged on Wednesday that appeal court judges have reduced his jail term to five years

Scotland's solicitor general apologised to Mr Mitchell's family after they said that they had not been told about the appeal.

The two men lived side by side in Cardonald

The attack in July 2001 was the culmination of the feud between the two men at their homes in Cardonald, Glasgow.

Mr Mitchell kept a diary containing details of the threats made against him over the years in which he predicted his death at the hands of his neighbour.

He documented more than 40 confrontations in 60 pages in a red notebook, including one furious exchange in August 1999 in which he wrote that Drummond promised to "kill me and cave my head in".

The fatal attack happened within an hour of Drummond being told by council officials that he was to be evicted for his anti-social behaviour.

After the attack Mr Mitchell was taken to the city's Southern General Hospital suffering two fractures to his skull and other injuries.

'No justice'

He was in the intensive care unit for nine days and was expected to make a full recovery, but died later from a heart attack.

Drummond later admitted culpable homicide after his plea of not guilty to the original charge of murder was accepted.

The Crown Office said at the time their decision to accept this removed the possibility of a guilty verdict not being secured at a trial.

Anne Mitchell: "Sentence shouldn't have been cut"

Drummond was sentenced to eight years in prison but on Wednesday Mr Mitchell's family reacted furiously after it emerged that this had been reduced to five years on appeal.

His wife Anne Mitchell said: "There's no justice at all. Eight years was a fair enough amount for him but I don't know why they cut it.

"They've never told us but it shouldn't have been cut."

Her daughter Karin Mitchell said the priorities of the criminal justice system are with criminals.

"They don't care about the victims, they've got all the concern for the people that are doing the crimes," she said.

Legal apology

"The victims are left in the dark and we're the ones that are left to do the life sentence.

"Our whole family is doing a life sentence."

The family's furious response prompted an apology from Scotland's solicitor general Elish Angiolini.

Elish Angiolini: "Apologise very sincerely"

She said: "The situation seems to be that the family did not receive the information that they should have.

"The system has simply failed and I can do nothing more than to apologise very sincerely to the family if we have in any way added to their grief in what is a deeply distressing situation."

After Drummond's trial the Mitchell family also criticised Glasgow City Council for failing to act on their catalogue of complaints against him.

They also said they had been left to clean up Mr Mitchell's blood left at the scene of the attack.