A Kirkcaldy man who knifed his neighbour to death following a row over loud music has been jailed for life at the High Court in Edinburgh.
Steven Kettles (28) was told he must serve at least 14 years for the murder of David Allan (44) at a flat in Overton Mains on March 3, although Lord Tyre warned him to expect to be behind bars for longer.
Mr Allan, who lived in the flat directly above Kettles, was stabbed when he went to confront his neighbour over the volume of music being played from Kettles’ television.
Kettles maintained he had been defending himself and insisted Mr Allan ”went into” the knife, which he claimed had still been in his hand from making a cheese sandwich.
However, he was found guilty of murdering Mr Allan by majority jury verdict last month.
Lord Tyre told Kettles: ”There is no excuse for you having taken a knife with you when you answered the door of your flat to David Allan that night.”
He added Kettles had taken away the remaining years of the victim’s life and deprived his family of him.
”Nothing I can say or do today can bring him back nor provide any comfort or consolation,” said the judge.
Neighbours in Overton Mains were reluctant to speak about March’s incident, but those who did were united in condemnation at Kettles’ actions.
One resident said: ”The guy was bad news plain and simple. If you stab someone, for any reason, they should throw away the key in my book.”
Kettles claimed Mr Allan had banged on his bedroom window, shouting for him to turn the music down. He said he did, but shortly afterwards, he claimed, Mr Allan had come to his door and was banging and kicking on it, shouting about the music.
Kettles, who has learning difficulties, then told officers he ”never forced” the knife into his victim, but jurors were not convinced.
During the trial, the court heard Mr Allan had mentioned loud music being played all the time in the flat directly underneath him to friends. Mr Allan’s brother John (49) said his brother would bang his foot on the floor to try to make it stop.
Detective Sergeant Alan Stewart, who was called to the flat after the fatal incident, said he had found a flat screen television in Kettles’ bedroom with the volume control at ”full blast”.
Lord Tyre told Kettles he had regard to his learning difficulties, but pointed out that he had ”a lengthy record of offending” and added: ”You don’t appear to have been able to learn the lesson that criminal behaviour is wrong.”
Temporary Detective Inspector James Adamson said Kettles’ punishment should act as proof that knife-carrying is unacceptable.
”David Allan died after being stabbed by Steven Kettles,” DI Adamson said. ”Knife crime has a devastating effect on individuals and communities.
”There is no place in society for those who use a knife as a weapon and Fife Constabulary and partner agencies will continue to work together to discourage individuals from committing crimes of violence.
”When an individual is assaulted we will work tirelessly to bring the culprit to justice.”
Following the initial verdict, advocate depute Keith Stewart QC said Kettles had a number of previous convictions, including assault, theft by housebreaking, theft of a motor vehicle, wilful fire-raising and assault and robbery.
At the time of the murder, he was on deferred sentence for possession of an offensive weapon a screwdriver and had also been on bail in relation to alleged theft.