Man brutally murdered partner after returning from football match and left her son to discover her body

A man who brutally murdered his partner after returning from the pub has been jailed for at least 19 years.

John Higgins, 63, attacked and choked Amanda McAlear at her flat in Barmulloch, Glasgow on May 7, 2022.

The 50-year-old’s son discovered her body when he visited her home the next day.

Higgins was jailed for life at the High Court in Glasgow on Wednesday.

Lady Haldane cut the minimum he must spend behind bars from 20 years due to his late guilty plea to the murder charge back in July.

The previous hearing was told how the couple had been together for four years.

On the day of the murder, Higgins had been out at a football match then went to the pub before getting a taxi back to Ms McAlear’s.

He had chatted in the cab about “looking forward” to having an Indian takeaway and watching TV.

Ms McAlear also returned home having visited her elderly mother.

The last contact she had with other family members was a phone call with her son.

The exact details of the fatal attack are not known, but it was at the flat Higgins killed his partner.

Prosecutors stated he grabbed her, repeatedly punched her on the head and body as well as strangled her.

The court heard Higgins left Ms McAlear and made an “unplanned” visit to his sister and brother-in-law later that night.

He claimed he had a “fight” with his partner after she unplugged the TV as he was watching it.

Higgins went on to say he had “seen red” and he thought things had “went too far” but did not mention Ms McAlear had been injured or that she might need medical attention.

The morning after, Higgins said “you know that way when you wake up and reality hits you” before asking a family member to get details for a solicitor.

Ms McAlear’s son later went to visit her home. After making his way inside the property, he discovered her badly injured body.

A 999 call was made, but Ms McAlear had already died.

A post-mortem found she had suffered many injuries including a fractured rib, a displaced tooth and soft tissue damage to her neck.

As a result of her death, Ms McAlear did not meet her youngest grandchild and missed her son’s wedding.

Michael Meehan KC, defending, said Higgins “regrets that he lost control” that night and accepted he had “gone too far”.

Lady Haldane told the hearing she had read a number of emotional victim impact statements from Ms McAlear’s family describing how she is “evidently irreplaceable”.

The judge said: “To lose her at all is a tragedy, but to lose her in the manner she did, having murderous violence inflicted upon her by someone who was her partner is, I am sure, unbearable for them.”

She remarked on the “very limited insight and remorse” Higgins had shown in the compiling of a pre-sentencing report.

Lady Haldane said: “You seemed to have focused more on Ms McAlear’s actions which you suggest, on your account, were provocative rather than the numerous opportunities to pull back from what was a murderous assault.

“You left the property without knowing if Ms McAlear was alive or dead.

“This conduct is deplorable. A direct consequence of this is that her son had the unimaginable experience of discovering his deceased mother.”