Man jailed for 12 years over stabbing death

Jury accepts Arran Fender acted in self-defence

A Dundee man who killed his former “best” friend by repeatedly stabbing him during a brutal confrontation in a city street has been jailed for 12 years.

Arran Fender, 31, attacked Gary McMillan, 44, at the junction of Lawton Road and Lawton Terrace, in Dundee on May 16.

During proceedings at the High Court, Fender, who was on trial for murder, claimed he was acting in self defence when he stabbed Mr McMillan.

Yesterday, jurors accepted Fender’s claims that he acted in self-defence and convicted him on a lesser charge of culpable homicide.

The High Court in Edinburgh heard how the two men were armed with knives when they started fighting with each other.

Fender, of Dundee, stabbed Mr McMillan a total of four times during the fight. The grandfather lost his life as a consequence of the wounds.

He said he plunged a blade into Mr McMillan because his victim initially tried to stab him with a knife.

Passing sentence on Fender, judge Lady Carmichael said custody was the only sentence available to her.

She told him: “You inflicted four stab wounds upon your victim Gary McMillan. The loss of Mr McMillan is, and will continue to be, felt by this family.

“No sentence which I can pronounce will address the distress and grief caused by his death.”

The verdict came at the end of a 10-day trial in which Fender, a prisoner of HMP Barlinnie, denied breach of the peace, knife possession, murder and attempting to pervert the course of justice charges.

The jury heard how Fender and Mr McMillan had once been the “best of friends” but fell out in the months before the fatal attack.

Mr McMillan objected to Fender having a relationship with a woman called Jessica Holt while he was still involved in a relationship with 31-yearold Jill Halliday.

In the days leading up to the confrontation, the two men sent a series of angry WhatsApp messages to each other in which Fender threatened to “kill” Mr McMillan and “put him in a box”.

The jury heard Mr McMillan and Ms Holt had been drinking at the deceased man’s flat on the day of the attack.

Fender then arrived outside the property, armed with a knife, in the early hours of May 16 and started shouting.

Mr McMillan armed himself with a blade and went outside.

Fender said Mr McMillan “ambushed” and tried to stab him so he had to “fight for his life” and started “swiping”. Four of the “swipes” struck Mr McMillan and caused him to die.

Crying, Fender said: “I was devastated – there was no need for any of this. Everybody involved is suffering. I didn’t want to hurt Gary. I didn’t want any of this.”

The court heard Fender had three previous convictions for knife possession and three previous convictions for assault.

A neighbour of Mr McMillan claimed she had “seen his death coming”.

Yvonne Mukart, 56, said: “I’d seen it coming. He was trying to provoke him to fight him.

“Gary must just have walked into him when he was out.”

I didn’t wantto hurt Gary. I didn’t want any of this. ARRAN FENDER

Picture: Steven Brown. The scene at Lawton Road and Lawton Terrace last May after the death of Gary McMillan. Arran Fender has been jailed for 12 years over his death.