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| Man jailed for city knife murder | Man jailed for city knife murder |
| (30 minutes later) | |
| A man found guilty of murder after stabbing another man through the heart in Aberdeen has been jailed for a minimum of 12-and-a-half years. | A man found guilty of murder after stabbing another man through the heart in Aberdeen has been jailed for a minimum of 12-and-a-half years. |
| John Anderson, 30, had denied murdering William Reeve, 41, who died after a fight in February. He claimed he was acting in self defence. | |
| Anderson was on bail awaiting sentence for having a knife in the same street. | Anderson was on bail awaiting sentence for having a knife in the same street. |
| Mr Reeve's widow, Julie, said: "It doesn't matter how many year's John gets, it doesn't bring Willie back." | |
| You deprived a family of a husband and father in cruel circumstances Judge Roger Craik QC | |
| Judge Roger Craik QC told Anderson: "You have been convicted by the unanimous verdict of the jury of what on any view was a vicious murder. | |
| "You thereby deprived a family of a husband and father in cruel circumstances." | |
| Not blameless | |
| Mr Reeve and friend James Graham, 42, had confronted Anderson and his brother George, accusing them of an earlier attack on Mr Reeve's disabled teenage son, which followed a row in a nearby children's swing park. | |
| The court heard Mr Graham was armed with a meat cleaver as Mr Reeve punched George Anderson, 33, and knocked him through a hedge. | |
| John Anderson went to the family home and returned to the scene with a knife or knives. | |
| Minutes later, Mr Reeve told his friend: "They got me, Jim." | |
| Mr Reeve died from a knife wound which pierced his heart. | Mr Reeve died from a knife wound which pierced his heart. |
| The jury took less than an hour to reject Anderson's claim that he was acting in self defence. | |
| Charges against his brother were dropped during the trial. | |
| Defence QC Edgar Prais described Anderson as a petty criminal whose offending was the result of a drugs problem. | |
| The judge added: "I take the point made by counsel that the conduct of the victim and his friend, James Graham, was far from blameless either." | |
| Grampian Police said the case tragically proved people should not carry knives. |