Killer’s jail time cut
Meanwhile victim’s partner says she’s been condemned to life sentence
A thug who was caged for five years after killing a Rutherglen dad with a single punch in a local pub has had his jail term slashed.
The partner of 45-year-old Jason Haig, who suffered a fractured skull and brain bleed in the attack at the hands of Thomas Allan in Harley’s Skybar on Main Street, Rutherglen, in September, has slammed Appeal Court judges who last week cut his sentence by a year.
Grieving Nicola Shannon, 45, said she’s been condemned to “a life sentence” without Jason, who died in hospital eight days after Allan dealt the fatal blow to the head following a dispute over a game of pool.
Jurors heard he told his unconscious victim: “He better stay down or I’ll put him f ****** back down.”
After fatally punching 45-yearold Mr Haig, Allan casually took a sip of his pint.
He was handed a five-year jail term after pleading guilty to culpable homicide at the High Court in Edinburgh in February.
The Reformer reported how callous Allan cruelly winked at his victim’s family as he was jailed by a judge who told the 52-year-old chef from Govan: “Your conduct was deplorable and despicable.”
Lord Mulholland said he had shown no concern for the victim and demonstrated a “continuing animus” towards him after the fatal blow was struck on Mr Haig.
The judge said it was a forceful punch which resulted in the catastrophic injury sustained by Mr Haig, which ultimately took his life.
But in the appeal judges’ ruling, Lord Glennie said: “It seems to us that the appellant did not know how badly injured the deceased was.”
Nicola, who was with Jason for 20 years, said his death left their son Kieran, 18, and her daughter Tori, 25, “devastated.”
The Reformer previously reported how the tragedy was one of three family deaths in nine months. Jason’s brother Jamie, 40, and his “heartbroken” mum Anne, 66, both died last year.