Young mother jailed for killing stranger with single punch

Kayleigh Murray, 20, lashed out at Paul Woods in a Glasgow street after swigging alcohol and taking Valium pills.

A young mother who killed a man with a single punch while high on a cocktail of drugs and alcohol has been jailed for nearly seven years.

Kayleigh Murray, 20, lashed out at complete stranger Paul Woods after swigging Buckfast, cider and knocking back Valium pills in a Glasgow street.

The High Court in Edinburgh heard that Murray's friend, Chelsea Speirs, 19, had grabbed a carry-out from Mr Woods.

As devoted father-of-two Mr Woods, 29, tried to retrieve the blue plastic bag, Murray hit him full in the face with her fist. He fell backwards, hitting his head against the road and did not move again, judge Lord Pentland was told.

Murray told a friend as she walked away that she had knocked him out, said advocate depute Shianti Rao, prosecuting.

Speirs remained with passers-by who were trying to help Mr Woods and began shouting: "I think he is dead."

Murray of Etive Street, Shettleston, Glasgow, who has two young children, admitted culpable homicide.

Speirs of Castlelaw Gardens, Glasgow, pled guilty to assault and robbery.

She was sentenced to two years and three months detention and Murray to six years and nine months.

The court heard that on July 28 Mr Woods went to a pub in Maryhill Road that evening to watch football with friends. At about 9.40pm he left and headed for a nearby off-licence to buy more alcohol.

Murray and Speirs - who had been drinking for hours - got off a bus in Maryhill Road and saw Mr Woods standing outside the Lifestyle Express shop, waiting for a friend to be served.

Speirs demanded to know what Mr Woods had in the bag he was holding, then grabbed it and walked off after a brief struggle.

When Mr Woods tried to chase her, Murray attacked him, said Ms Rao.

Speirs, who had started the chain of events, played no part in the fatal attack, the court heard.

An ambulance found Mr Woods unconscious and bleeding from a head wound. He was taken to hospital where a CT scan revealed further bleeding inside his skull. An emergency operation failed to save him and he died the following day.

Similar attack

At the time of the attack Murray was on probation. Spiers was still on licence after an earlier sentence of detention for a similar incident when she attacked on a man for his alcohol. Both have a record for violence.

Sentencing the pair, Lord Pentland told Spiers the Crown accepted she had no criminal responsibility for the tragic death of Mr Woods, but she had little respect for authority or the community.

The judge added: "In a highly intoxicated state you approached Mr Woods as he came out of a shop and attempted to rob him of the alcohol he had just bought. He was a complete stranger to you.

Lord Pentland added: It is clear that your conduct was entirely unprovoked, violent and persistent. It was aggravated by drink. It displayed, in my view, a high degree of unruly and anti-social drunken hooliganism."

The judge said public concern about such behaviour meant the courts must do what they could to punish those who participated and deter others.

Turning to Murray, Lord Pentland told her: "At the time you killed Mr Woods you were heavily intoxicated on a cocktail of Buckfast wine, cider and Valium. You had, as was customary for you, spent most of the day getting drunk in the company of fellow-minded associates."

The judge said: "While you did not intend to kill Mr Woods, there is no doubt that drunken violence of the type in which you engaged, can, all too often, result in the tragic consequences of the type that ensued here."

Lord Pentland said: "The terrible consequences for Mr Woods immediate and wider family of your senseless violence are powerfully conveyed in a number of victim impact statements."

Lord Pentland ordered Speirs to be kept under supervision for a year after her sentence and extended Murray's time on licence by three years and three months.