Man convicted of loyalist killing

Lindsay Robb was attacked in Glasgow on Hogmanay

An ex-soldier has been convicted at the High Court in Glasgow of killing a former loyalist gun-runner.

Lindsay Robb was knifed 22 times by Brian Tollett on Hogmanay in Ruchazie and died in Glasgow Royal Infirmary after one wound pierced his heart.

Tollet, 29, denied murder and claimed he acted in self-defence. He was found guilty after a six-day trial of the reduced charge of culpable homicide.

Judge Lord Brailsford deferred sentence for background reports.

The attack in Gartloch Road was witnessed by people at nearby shops, including a 10-year-old boy.

'Brutal and savage'

The boy told the court two men were fighting on the ground.

He saw Mr Robb had been stabbed in the leg and the heart because there was blood dripping from his leg and a hole in his T-shirt.

Another witness told the court that Tollett claimed he was asked to "sort out" Mr Robb over an alleged debt he owed to another man and had demonstrated how he killed him.

Tollett, a former soldier in the 1st Battalion the Royal Fusiliers, claimed he acted in self defence.

Advocate depute Alex Prentice said to Tollett: "This was not self defence. This was a brutal and savage attack by you."

Former Ulster Volunteer Force and Loyalist Volunteer Force member Mr Robb, 38, was released from prison in Northern Ireland in 1999 under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement and moved to Airdrie.

He had been convicted in 1995 for his part in a loyalist gun-running operation.