Life sentence for torture killers

The court was told that blood ran from a flat out of the close

Three men who tortured and murdered a 52-year-old man have been jailed for life.

Ben Devine was stabbed, kicked, punched and stamped on during the attack in his Port Glasgow home in March of last year.

The judge, Lady Paton, described the killing, in which 70 separate injuries were inflicted, as "horrific and sadistic".

A jury had been told that Mr Devine was tortured for hours before he died.

Police believed that the motive for the attack was robbery which turned to assault when the victim resisted the men.

A pathologist said that some of his wounds were inflicted "solely to cause pain".

Dr Marjory Black said Mr Devine must have survived for three hours after a blow to his forehead caused a depressed fracture and damaged his brain nerves.

His injuries included multiple stab and slash wounds, 15 rib fractures, broken cheek and nose bones and widespread bruising.

Trail of blood

One stab wound went into his lung, a slash to his leg severed an artery and wounds on his hands and arms showed how he had tried to protect himself.

A trail of blood ran from Mr Devine's flat downstairs and out of the close.

DNA samples from two of the accused were found to match those discovered at the scene of the killing, while the third man told a niece of the victim that he had "done something terrible".

Edward Guiller, 38, Thomas Edgar, 20, and Richard Green, 34, were each jailed for life for the attack.

Lady Paton ordered that Guiller and Edgar should serve 12 years before being able to approach the parole board.

But she said that because of Green's "atrocious" criminal record he must serve 15 years before seeking release.

Green, who came from London, was jailed for five years in 1987 when he admitted attacking BBC newsreader Jan Leeming by spraying ammonia into her face.