A killer brutally attacked his neighbour and dragged him home to bleed to death. Nicholas Henry turned on Daniel Greer in Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, on October 17, 2020.
The 45-year-old hit the 33-year-old with a shovel before repeatedly stabbing him on the body nine times in his garden in the early hours of the morning.
He then hauled Mr Greer's body back into his own home where his father made the grim discovery of his body two days later. Henry meantime had told a friend: "Don't worry you won't be seeing him again, he's gone."
Henry was convicted at the High Court in Glasgow of murdering Mr Greer. The thug was previously locked up for 12 years in 2011 for trying to kill a man in Cumbernauld, North Lanarkshire almost chopping off his hand.
Henry will learn the minimum he will spend behind bars for the murder when he returns to the dock next month.
Another neighbour of the men told jurors how she had been awoken during the night by noise.
Jennifer Watterson added: "I saw Nicholas in my garden with Daniel who had his hand on his head saying 'leave me, leave me’.”
Prosecutor Euan Cameron asked what Henry was saying and the witness replied: "Get up you f***ing b******." The 64 year-old stated that she also saw Henry hit Mr Greer with a shovel while he was on the ground and stamp on him.
She added Henry dragged Mr Greer away before she closed her blinds. Witness Lynsey Mulherron - whose sister was in a relationship with the killer - recalled to police how she had later chatted to Henry about Mr Greer.
He was said to have told her: "Don't worry, you will not be seeing him again, he is gone." In his evidence, Henry claimed he had been defending himself against an allegedly armed Mr Greer.
But, in his closing speech to jurors, advocate depute Mr Cameron said: "Mr Greer was subjected to repeated and forceful blunt force injuries.
"Henry repeatedly struck Mr Greer on the neck, chest, stomach and back with a knife of at least 15cm in length. He struck Mr Greer with such a force that the knife left a notch in one of his ribs and cut open a vein in his liver.
"Henry took him back to his home where he left him to bleed to death." Mr Greer also suffered bruises to his face, torso, arms, legs and a bleed to the brain.
The court heard Henry ditched the murder weapon in a nearby field. Lord Scott remanded Henry in custody and deferred sentencing for reports.
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