Murderer who accused partner of affair with stepson has sentence cut

A man who murdered his partner after wrongly accusing her of having an affair with one of his sons has succeeded in a bid to cut his minimum jail term.

Colin Kennedy, 63, was jailed for life last August after being found guilty of the “frenzied” killing of Catherine Stewart at their home in Airdrie, North Lanarkshire.

The High Court heard how one of the couple’s daughters came downstairs to find Kennedy stabbing the cancer survivor on July 4, 2021 in Airdrie.

Kennedy, of Kirkliston, Edinburgh, claimed he was mentally ill at the time but prosecutors argued that the killing was “driven by anger and rage”.

At the High Court in Glasgow, Lord Arthurson gave Kennedy a life sentence for the crime and told him he would serve a minimum of 25 years before he would be eligible for parole.

This prompted lawyers to go to the Court of Criminal Appeal in Edinburgh to argue that the 25-year-long punishment was excessive.

Appeal judges Lord Doherty, Lord Beckett and Lord Armstrong heard arguments that people convicted of murdering people in similar circumstances were given lesser punishment parts.

Kennedy’s legal team referred to the conviction of Lukasz Czapla who was given a life sentence for murdering his two-year-old son in May 2022.

The appeal court heard that Czapla was told he would have to serve a minimum of 23 years before becoming eligible for parole.

Kennedy’s lawyers told the Court of Criminal Appeal that these past cases should mean their client should receive a lesser punishment part.

In a written judgement issued by the court on Tuesday, the judges agreed with the submissions made to them by Kennedy’s legal team. They reduced Kennedy’s minimum jail term to 23 years.

Lord Doherty, who delivered the judgement, wrote: “As the sentencing judge observed, this was a case where extreme violence involving a knife was used against a partner.

“The attack was merciless.

“Having considered the whole circumstances of the appellant’s case, weighed the aggravating and mitigating factors, and compared the case with other cases, we are satisfied that the punishment part of 25 is excessive.

“We shall allow the appeal, quash the punishment part of 25 years and substitute a punishment part of 23 years.”

At previous proceedings, Lord Arthurson told Kennedy: “This was not just a sustained episode of frenzied, instrumental violence.

“This was a cowardly attack of malevolent and wholly murderous butchery perpetrated on your partner.”

The court also heard how Kennedy had become convinced the 54-year-old had been cheating on him with Colin Llewellyn – his son from a previous relationship.

He warned that he was going to “kill” his partner of 35 years.

Jurors heard how the couple’s relationship had deteriorated in the run-up to the killing.

Kennedy has seven children, including two daughters and a son with Catherine.

He possessed the “unshakeable” view his partner was seeing her stepson – who stayed in Liverpool – behind his back.

This included him making a “secret clandestine recording” of a phone call between the pair that was played during the trial.

At one stage, Catherine stated: “He is accusing me of something I have not done.”

The grandmother instead claimed it was Kennedy who was previously guilty of infidelity.

Kennedy later met their son and told him: “I am going to kill your mum.”

On the morning of the attack, the couple’s youngest daughter was upstairs when she heard Catherine shouting: “Get off me.”

The daughter – aged 17 at the time – told police that she saw her mother lying in a pool of blood and tried to pull her dad away from her.

Detectives praised her for her bravery in trying to prevent what happened.

Kennedy was arrested and confessed that he had stabbed Catherine, saying he “just kept hitting her”.

At the trial, he did not deny the killing but had lodged a special defence of diminished responsibility.

In his closing speech, prosecutor John McElroy KC said Kennedy was guilty of a “pre-meditated” killing.

He told jurors: “The Crown position is that this was murder, plain and simple. It was driven by anger and rage. His life, as he knew it, was coming to an end.

“He was suffering from stress, his partner wanted him out. The relationship had effectively come to an end.

“He was a jealous, angry and unhappy man.”

First offender Kennedy will serve a minimum of 23 before the parole board decides whether he should be released from custody.