Newly-weds stabbed neighbour to death

A newly-wed couple stabbed a man to death after throwing a pan of boiling water and sugar over the victim.

Colin Skilbeck answered the door to downstairs neighbours Rene Howieson and his wife Kathleen Downey despite his flatmate urging him not to.

Mr Skilbeck suffered nine knife wounds in the subsequent deadly attack with one penetrating his heart.

The High Court in Edinburgh heard that Howieson had turned up at the flat door armed with a knife and Downey had a kitchen pan filled with the boiling sugar solution.

Howieson, 36, earlier admitted murdering Mr Skilbeck, 41, by throwing the solution in his face and repeatedly striking him with a knife on 12 March this year at a flat at Gibson Terrace in the Fountainbridge area of Edinburgh.

Downey, 35, also known as Downey-howieson, had also faced a murder charge but the Crown accepted her plea to a reduced charge of culpable homicide on the basis of diminished responsibility.

She admitted killing Mr Skilbeck by throwing the water and sugar at him and striking him with the knife. Her older sister, Maureen Downey, 40, of Chalmers Buildings, Tollcross, Edinburgh, had her not guilty plea to the murder charge accepted by the Crown. Downey, who has been diagnosed with an emotionally unstable personality disorder and post traumatic stress disorder, and Howieson were both detained in custody ahead of sentencing.