Father knifed to death ‘as he spoke to car vandal’

A FATHER was stabbed to death in broad daylight after apparently confronting a vandal he feared was damaging his car.

Scottish bus driver John Kiltie, 44, was found dead in a garden on Saturday morning.

He was attacked near his home in Girvan, South Ayrshire, where he lived with his partner Sharon and their three sons and a daughter.

Neighbours said they had heard him arguing with someone over his parked car followed by screaming before paramedics arrived in an air ambulance. Mr Kiltie, who worked for Stagecoach, was declared dead at the scene.

Police officers battered down the door of a nearby flat to search for a suspect. A Scottish Police spokesman said yesterday: ‘We can confirm that officers are now following a positive line of inquiry.’

One neighbour told a Scottish newspaper: ‘They are a lovely family and John was a very pleasant man. It appears he challenged someone he thought was going to vandalise his car. We are in total disbelief that something like this could happen here.’

William Hughes, 58, who lives across the road, said: ‘I couldn’t believe what I was seeing with the police taping off the road. It’s usually so quiet here. I was very shocked because I knew John quite well. He was a nice guy.’