A man who stabbed his older brother to death during a row has been jailed for four and a half years.

Jeffrey Forbes, 40, killed father-of-five Scott Forbes with a single knife wound to the body which cut a major artery.

The High Court in Edinburgh heard the drink-fuelled row had escalated after victim Scott, 41, had said his brother could not have children.

The pair had been drinking at Jeffrey’s flat in Tullos Circle, Aberdeen in February this year when the row erupted.

Two 999 calls were made by Forbes requesting police to come round to his Torry home. During the first call he said his brother Scott was smashing his property.

A voice in the background was heard saying: "I can't get out officer. I am locked in."

Forbes then made a second call shortly after midnight in which he sounded considerably distressed. He said his brother had headbutted him and gone into the kitchen and got a knife.

The knife was later put down but when the arguing resumed Forbes picked it up when he feared Scott was going to hit him.

Forbes struck the fatal blow which penetrated the right hand side of his brother's body.

When police arrived at the property and Forbes told them: "My brother is in the other room. I don't know if he is breathing."

Scott was later declared dead.

Forbes later told police: "He pushed me too far. Why didn't he just leave me alone.
"It was a silly fight. I wish I had never invited him over. I only meant to scare him."

The court heard that the brothers’ relationship was characterised by arguments and reconciliations – with the row about Forbes not having any children a frequent cause.

The court also heard Scott swung a blow with the weapon which made contact with Forbes' face.

Forbes was originally charged with murdering his brother on February 7 or February 8 this year at the Tullos Circle address but the Crown accepted his guilty plea to the reduced charge of culpable homicide.

Unemployed Forbes, a single man with no dependants admitted assaulting his brother and stabbing him on the body with a knife and killing him.

Temporary judge John Morris QC said:  "You did what you did under considerable provocation.

"This was at the lower end of the culpable homicide scale. Nevertheless during a drink fuelled incident you have taken your brother's life with a weapon albeit a weapon he introduced."

Sheila Forbes, mother of the two brothers was in court to hear the sentence but declined to comment as she left.