Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser
Jealous rage led to knife death
Iain O’Brien lost his life in a violent fight after finding his former girlfriend having sex on a kitchen worktop.
The 39-year-old had smashed his way into the home of Lynne McMillan with a baseball bat.
He was then stabbed to death during the ensuing brawl with Paul Hadden, who was with Miss McMillan in the kitchen.
Iain had only been seeing his former childhood sweetheart for a couple of months following the breakdown of her three-year relationship with Hadden.
However, Miss McMillan ended her brief involvement with Iain and took up with her former lover again just two days before the fatal fight.
During Hadden’s trial at the High Court in Glasgow, Miss McMillan said Iain didn’t take the break-up well and threatened to kill her and members of her family.
On the day he was killed, Iain bombarded Miss McMillan with phone calls and she repeatedly phoned the police for help. Officers heard the last call in which he was heard to say: “You’re a w****. I’m going to get you, you w****.”
But before they arrived at his home to arrest him, Iain picked up a baseball bat and took a taxi to his former lover’s house.
Miss McMillan said: “Paul and I were having sex. I was sitting on the kitchen worktop.
“I heard an almighty smash and within a second, Iain was in the kitchen, hitting out with his bat.
“He just kept hitting Paul with the bat. We couldn’t get out. There was nowhere to go.”
She added: “He would not stop hitting Paul. I was trying to separate them. The moment Iain hit the ground, Paul asked me to phone the police.
“I went to the back door. Iain was lying there and I held him in my arms.”
Mr O’Brien was stabbed 21 times. Two of the blows went through his heart.
Hadden was originally charged with murder but convicted of culpable homicide. His sentence was later reduced from 10 years to seven.