Pub row killer is jailed for life

The murder scene was cordoned off after the stabbing

A farm worker has been jailed for life after admitting the murder of a man in a pub row on Anglesey.

Mr Justice Roderic Evans told Nicholas McGuigan he would have to serve more than 11 years in prison before being considered for release.

Caernarfon Crown Court had heard that McGuigan, 23, stabbed Arfon Williams, 20, after being head-butted by him.

McGuigan said he had meant to threaten, but not kill, Mr Williams.

The court heard both men had been drinking heavily on the evening of the stabbing, which happened in a street in January 2005.

McGuigan, a farm labourer from Tynlon, near Holyhead, took a taxi home to collect the knife before stabbing Mr Williams.

Counsel for McGuigan said he had a deep sense of remorse, and had pleaded guilty because he did not want to put his victim's relatives through the ordeal of a trial.

McGuigan claimed that Mr Williams had hit him in the face before he had taken out the knife from his trousers.

Mr Williams, a mechanic from Bodedern, was taken to Ysbyty Gwynedd in Bangor after the stabbing, but died before arriving.

David Aubrey, QC, defending, said the two men had plainly drunk too much alcohol.

The judge told McGuigan : "In my opinion the fact that you equipped yourself with a knife at your home is a very serious factor and intensifies the seriousness of the offence.

"Carrying and using a knife is a feature of our society, a feature that courts must consider responsibly and do their very best to stop."