By Grâçia Ada Obi
A thug who brutally murdered his lover after she unplugged the TV he was watching has been jailed for at least 19 years.
John Higgins, 63, battered and choked Amanda McAlear at her flat in Glasgow’s Barmulloch on May 7 2022.
The 50 year-old’s son made the tragic discovery of her body when he visited her home the next day.
Higgins was on Wednesday jailed for life at the High Court in Glasgow.
Lady Haldane cut the minimum he must spend behind bars from 20 years due to his late guilty to the murder charge back in July.
The previous hearing was told how the couple had been together for four years.
On the day of the murder, Higgins had been out at a football match then went to the pub before getting a taxi back to Ms McAlear’s home.
The exact details of the fatal attack are not known, but it was at the flat Higgins killed his partner.
Prosecutors stated he grabbed her, repeatedly punched the mother on the head and body as well as strangled her.
The court heard Higgins left stricken Ms McAlear and made an ‘unplanned’ visit to his sister and brother-in-law later that night.
He claimed he had a ‘fight’ with his partner after she unplugged the TV as he was watching it.
Prosecutor Neil McCulloch said: ‘He did not say anything about Amanda McAlear being injured or needing medical attention.’
Higgins spent the night there and when he awoke later stated to his brother-in-law: ‘You know when reality hits you.’
Ms McAlear’s son later went to visit her home and discovered her body.
A 999 call was made, but she had already passed away.
Mr McCulloch said she had been subjected to ‘multiple blows’ as well as ‘compression’ of the neck.
Michael Meehan KC, defending, yesterday said Higgins ‘regrets that he lost control’ that night and accepted he had ‘gone too far’.
Lady Haldane told the hearing she had read a number of emotional victim impact statements from Miss McAlear’s family describing how she is ‘evidently irreplaceable’.
The judge added: ‘To lose her at all is a tragedy, but to lose her in the manner she did, having murderous violence inflicted upon her by someone who was her partner is, I am sure, unbearable for them.’
She remarked on the ‘very limited insight and remorse’ Higgins had shown in the compiling of a pre-sentencing report.
Lady Haldane added: ‘You seemed to have focused more on Miss McAlear’s actions which you suggest, on your account, were provocative rather than the numerous opportunities to pull back from what was a murderous assault.
‘You left the property without knowing if Miss McAlear was alive or dead.
‘This conduct is deplorable. A direct consequence of this is that her son had the unimaginable experience of discovering his deceased mother.’
Moira Orr, who leads on homicide and major crime for the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, said: ‘John Higgins violently attacked Amanda in her own home where she should have been safe. Instead of calling for help, he left the house leaving his partner on the kitchen floor.
‘His cruel and callous actions have robbed a family of their loving mum, daughter, sister, aunt and grandmother.
‘Adding to their unimaginable devastation, Amanda never got to meet her youngest grandchild and missed out on her son’s wedding.
‘Our thoughts remain with Amanda’s friends and family, who have waited patiently for justice to be served.”’