Nine years for killing man he accused of having an affair with lover
Thug flew into a violent rage after he found his girlfriend alone with another bloke in flat
A JEALOUS boyfriend was jailed for more than nine years yesterday for killing a man after catching him alone with his partner and believing they’d had sex.
Robbie Smullen was convicted last month of stabbing 22-yearold Barry Dixon in a flat in Perth.
Smullen, 23, claimed the fatal injury was inflicted when Barry pulled a knife on him and they both “tripped and fell” during a struggle over the weapon. But a jury at the High Court in Edinburgh rejected his self-defence plea and returned a majority verdict of culpable homicide.
Sentencing Smullen, judge Lady Carmichael said the killer had been “disinhibited by alcohol and the effects of sexual jealously”. She added that no sentence imposed could “repair or lessen the harm done to the family of Barry Dixon”.
Lady Carmichael sentenced Smullen to nine years and three months’ imprisonment.
Barry was knifed in the chest after going back to the flat with Smullen’s “on/off” partner Shannon Beattie, 25.
Smullen had denied assaulting Barry, striking him on the body with a knife or similar instrument, and murdering him on June 4, 2019.
The jury returned a reduced charge of culpable homicide.
Smullen’s mother Mary Smullen, 46, had been on trial alongside him, accused of pretending to police that Barry was stabbed by Shannon.
During the trial, she changed her plea to guilty to attempting to pervert the course of justice.
Lady Carmichael ordered Mary Smullen to carry out 180 hours of unpaid work. The judge said Smullen’s “false information” did not lead cops on the wrong trail for “very long” but did lead to Shannon being initially treated as a suspect.
Robbie Smullen gave his mother a thumbs up as she left the dock and he was led to the cells downstairs.
Earlier in the hearing, Ronnie Renucci QC, representing Robbie Smullen, said his client hadn’t been “looking for Mr Dixon or looking for trouble” on the night of the killing.
Mr Renucci added: “He very much regrets his involvement in the death of Barry Dixon.”
The QC said it was “something he will have to live with every day” and that Smullen told a social worker compiling background reports for sentencing that it “haunts him”. Gordon Martin, representing Mary Smullen, said she regrets her actions and was “genuinely remorseful”. During the trial, Shannon Beattie told the court she saw Smullen stab Barry.
She described meeting Barry in another woman’s home on the evening of June 3 2019, and they ended up together in her flat. She and Barry kissed, the court heard, and were listening to music, drinking and “having a laugh”.
Smullen arrived home, she said, and branded her a “f ***** g s**g” with a fight breaking out between him and Barry.
Shannon said she tried to get between them before Smullen pushed her into a wall.
She said: “Robbie stabbed him in the chest.” Barry was taken to Dundee’s Ninewells Hospital, but died after suffering a cardiac arrest.
Disinhibited by alcohol & the effects of sexual jealousy LADY CARMICHAEL ON JAILING SMULLEN