Mother jailed over CD row death

Last updated at 14:00 GMT, Friday, 11 December 2009

A mother who stabbed and killed her partner in a row about music has been jailed for six years and eight months.

Andrea Neil, 34, from Alloa in Clackmannanshire, admitted the culpable homicide of 46-year-old Robert Hamilton at a hearing in November.

Mr Hamilton died after a row over which CD to play resulted in the pair struggling on their kitchen floor, leading to the stabbing.

Judge Lord Pentland said Neil's actions had shown "violence and recklessness".

The High Court in Glasgow had previously heard that the couple, who had been together for four years, began arguing at about 0400 BST on 10 May at their home in Mull Court.

Mr Hamilton pulled Neil to the kitchen floor by her hair and the pair struggled on the floor, knocking over a table.

The mother-of-two then grabbed grabbed a knife lying on the kitchen counter and stabbed him through the heart.

Mr Hamilton, who had an 11-year-old daughter and an adopted daughter, died later that morning at Stirling Royal Infirmary.

Lord Pentland said: "Whilst this conduct on your part is accepted by the Crown not to have amounted to murder, it demonstrated, in my judgement, a considerable measure of violence and recklessness on your part.

"This can be seen also from the fact that you inflicted a second stab wound to Mr Hamilton's head.

"I accept, however, that your actions were not pre-meditated."

The judge said he believed Neil was "genuinely remorseful" and would have to live the rest of her life with the knowledge she had killed a man she had appeared to care for deeply.

He added: "No doubt this is tragic for you, but it is also a tragedy for many others, not least Mr Hamilton's family and friends to whom you have caused much suffering."

Neil's sentence was discounted to six years and eight months from nine years because of her guilty plea.