Thug beat neighbour to death for complaining about noise
A MAN battered his older neighbour to death in a row over noise, a court heard yesterday.
Shift worker Robert Clelland, 56, had complained to William Nimmo, 34, about loud music and power tools being used at nearly midnight.
Groundworker Nimmo, who is 6ft 2in and weighs 16 st, flew into a rage and attacked his neighbour, fracturing his skull, breaking his ribs and inflicting severe facial injuries.
The High Court in Glasgow heard that seconds before the beating, Nimmo shouted at Mr Clelland: ‘What I do in my property has f*** all to do with you.’
Mr Clelland had begged his attacker to ‘leave me, leave me’.
Yesterday, Nimmo was found guilty of murdering Mr Clelland at his home in Galston, Ayrshire, just before midnight on July 23 last
‘Intended to argue and have a fight’
year. The court heard Nimmo had been playing music and using power tools in the garden of the home of his mother, Brenda Smith, with whom he had been staying.
When confronted about the noise, Nimmo scaled the garden’s 6ft fence and attacked his neighbour.
He admitted killing Mr Clelland, a shoe factory foreman, but denied murdering him and claimed his neighbour struck the first blow.
Mr Clelland’s body was found hours later in his hallway. There were pools of blood at his head, the front door and in the courtyard.
The court heard that after the attack, Nimmo drove off in Mr Clelland’s van before abandoning it nearby. When asked by defence QC Tony Graham why he did this, Nimmo said: ‘I went for a joyride.’
Mr Graham then asked Nimmo why he had gone to confront Mr Clelland, a stranger. He replied: ‘I was angry, he was making an issue out of nothing.’ The QC asked:
‘What did you intend to do?’ Nimmo replied: ‘Argue and have a fight.’
Judge Lord Mulholland told Nimmo: ‘This was a brutal murder of a man who was of slim frame and had done nothing to you other than telling you to keep the noise down.
‘Be under no illusions about what is coming your way.’
Nimmo has 24 previous convictions, including five for violence.
He will serve life for murder. The punishment part of his sentence will be determined next month at the High Court in Livingston.
Nimmo was cleared during the trial of attempting to defeat the ends of justice by dragging Mr Clelland’s body from the courtyard into the hallway of his home.