Mother's anger over court verdict

The mother of a man who drowned in a Falkirk canal has spoken of her anger after the man accused of killing him was cleared of murder.

A jury watched CCTV images showing James McNaughton's plunge in the Forth and Clyde Canal at Falkirk, and a policeman's attempt to rescue him.

They decided that James Baker, 28, was guilty of assault but not murder.

A second man, William Brown, 32, was cleared of murdering Mr McNaughton, from Sauchie in Clackmannanshire.

'Life sentence'

Mr McNaughton's mother, Denise Dowds, 40, said: "It doesn't change the fact that they are going to be walking round for the rest of their lives and my son isn't.

"My son died for nothing and I don't think he got justice. I am the one who has been left with a life sentence."

Brown, of Bainsford, Falkirk, and Baker, of Bonnybridge, near Falkirk, were accused of murdering Mr McNaughton by throwing him into the water and preventing him from getting out.

A trial at the High Court in Edinburgh had heard suggestions that a scuffle broke out when a drug deal went wrong.

Mrs Dowds, of Alloa, Clackmannanshire, paid tribute to policeman David Kirkham who risked his life trying to save her son.

CCTV footage shown to the jury showed Pc Kirkham lowering himself into the water.

Legal arguments

He defied orders to come out of the freezing water until he had pulled Mr McNaughton to the surface and handed his body to colleagues and paramedics on the canal towpath.

Mr McNaughton died in hospital four days later.

Pc Kirkham later received a chief constable's commendation for his rescue attempt.

After hearing arguments from defence QC Ian Duguid during the trial, judge Lord Clarke ruled there was not enough evidence against Brown and cleared him of murder.

Brown then admitted assaulting Mr McNaughton's cousin Martin Dowds, 21, who had been with him, by trying to push him into the water.

The murder charge against Baker was reduced to culpable homicide for legal reasons but the jury found him not guilty of the lesser charge and convicted him of assaulting Mr McNaughton by throwing him into the water.

Both men are due to be sentenced next month.