Glasgow killer who set victim's body alight in bin jailed

A murderer who dumped his victim's body in a wheelie bin and set it alight has been jailed for a minimum of 18 years.

Jude McPhie, 42, admitted killing William Leiper at McPhie's flat in Glasgow's Pollok area in August 2021.

A jogger and a dog walker discovered the 31-year-old's smouldering remains in Househill Park. He had to be identified by expert anthropologists.

Judge Lord Young said setting his body on fire was "the final indignity for his family."

The High Court in Glasgow heard that Mr Leiper's cause of death was "unascertained" but there were signs of "multiple blunt force trauma" to the head.

Lord Young said: "It is clear from the injuries that this was a sustained and vicious attack involving a hammer. He was heard begging you to stop the attack.

"After murdering him, you tried to evade justice by cleaning the area and arranging to dispose the body with your co-accused."

Christopher O'Reilly, 27, pled guilty to attempting to defeat the ends of justice.

He was given a sentence of five years and five months.

Lord Young added: "You set fire to his body and left him in woods to find. This was the final indignity for his family."

Prosecutor Derick Nelson told how Mr Leiper had been an associate of McPhie and O'Reilly.

In the early hours of 2 August 2021, Mr Leiper was said to have turned up at McPhie's home in Hartstone Road "unannounced" and demanded money.

Later that night, the men were upstairs together with a woman downstairs.

She told the High Court in Glasgow she heard Mr Leiper "cry out" and shouted: "What are you doing, mate?"

Mr Leiper, who was described as being "terrified", was also heard being struck more than once.

McPhie yelled at him: "You've been at it for weeks."

At one point, Mr Leiper was heard saying: "Mate, please stop."

The same woman later spotted McPhie outside the house with what appeared to be the body of the victim lying on the doorstep.

McPhie shouted for help from O'Reilly who was also in the street.

The pair went to a local petrol station where McPhie bought lighter fluid and two bottles of bleach.

Over the next couple of days, neighbours noticed an "unusual burning smell" coming from a fire in the rear garden of the house.

In the early hours of 4 August, two figures were seen struggling to drag a green wheelie bin in the direction of Househill Park.

Mr Nelson said it appeared to be bearing "significant weight".

At about 07:30 a dog walker spotted what she initially thought was "a smouldering log or burning rubbish".

She stopped a jogger, who believed it could be a body.

Mr Nelson: "A 999 call prompted the arrival of police, who saw the charred remains."

The court heard a large part of the body had been "burnt beyond all recognition". Litter and other items had been dumped around it.

Mr Nelson: "Scene examiners, a fire crew, forensic scientists and a specialist team of forensic anthropologists were contacted to attend.

"The remains were confirmed by experts as human."

As a murder inquiry was launched, McPhie told one of his sisters: "He is a bully and he'll not be bullying anybody else."

He was also described as "ranting and raving" with another relative and admitted he had "murdered" Mr Leiper.

McPhie was later held by police, but when charged with the killing denied the claims.

The indictment stated that O'Reilly - along with others - bought bleach and lighter fluid to destroy evidence.

Attempts were made to clean blood at the house with clothes and a hammer burned in a garden. Part of a bloodstained mattress was also found.

McPhie also pled guilty to attempting to defeat the ends of justice, but the claims he helped move the body and set it alight were deleted.

Brian McConnachie KC, defending McPhie, said the privately educated, once promising rugby player acted out after "a culmination of a number of relatively recent occasions when there had been friction between them."

He added that there had been an argument after Mr Leiper "demanded money" from McPhie.

Lord Young told McPhie: "Only you know for sure what caused you to launch the murderous attack on him.

"You told the author of your social work report that an argument broke out and you were attacked by him.

"Nothing in the written narration confirms that."

McPhie was given a life sentence with a minimum punishment period of 18 years.