SENTENCING STATEMENTS

Upon sentencing at the High Court in Glasgow, Judge D Brown made the following remarks:

"On 15 April you were convicted after trial of assaulting and killing Andrew Lees on 5 November 2023.

"The incident started shortly before 2am at the car park of the Renfrew Leisure Centre. For some reason there was a confrontation between the two of you involving some shouting and aggressive gesturing.  Your sister Skye Beagan was present and was at times trying to provoke violence by urging Andrew Lees to “do” you and at other times was trying to keep the two of you apart. This confrontation continued into Newmains Road without any significant violence but you then punched him on the head. He did not apparently expect that blow as he was heard to shout something along the lines of “what did you f****** do that for?”. Shortly afterwards he collapsed to the ground. You shouted at Skye Beagan to pick him up off the ground, which she didn’t do, and you then walked away. He was discovered there shortly afterwards by other people who called an ambulance. When paramedics arrived no pulse could be detected and efforts to revive him were unsuccessful. He was taken to hospital where life was pronounced extinct.

"A post-mortem examination revealed that there had been a rupture or tear to an artery in his neck which had resulted in bleeding around the brain. It was explained in evidence that this type of injury is typically caused by a blow to the side of the head - and he was found to have internal bruising to the left side of the neck consistent with a punch at that location.  Such a blow can cause sudden rotation of the head, particularly if the blow is unexpected and there has been no protective response such as tensing up to restrict head movement. This rotation can stretch an artery to the extent that it tears immediately or can weaken it to such an extent that the pressure of blood flowing through it very soon causes it to tear. Prior to the tearing, the person may remain unaffected – in the way that  Andrew Lees was apparently initially unaffected and was able to shout at you  – but once tearing occurs the escaping blood rapidly causes a build-up of pressure on the brain which results in unconsciousness and death within a very short time, possibly less than a minute. After he had lost consciousness and collapsed to the ground he would not have recovered consciousness and there would have been virtually no possibility of saving him. Nevertheless the fact that you left him lying unconscious on the ground demonstrated a callous disregard for the consequences of what you had done to him.  

"His death of at the young age of 27 was a tragedy. He was plainly popular and very much loved by many who knew him – this being obvious from what was said about him at the trial and by the laughter when people were reminded in evidence of the sort of person he was. The greatest impact will inevitably be on those who were closest to him, in particular his mother Angela Lees who submitted an eloquent and heartfelt victim impact statement. He was her only child, he was loving, kind and protective and when he was killed her life was completely shattered. She misses him every second of every day and she will never recover from her devastating loss.

"As regards sentence, the length of the sentence is determined on the basis of the harm caused and the level of culpability or blameworthiness in committing the crime. The harm caused is the loss of a life and the impact that has had on others, particularly his mother, and in that respect the level of harm is the same as might have been caused by the crime of murder. In terms of culpability however this is a different crime from murder. Murder typically involves an attack with such violence that there is an obvious risk of death and it is clear that the attacker either intends to kill or is completely oblivious to that likely outcome. By contrast culpable homicide, which is the crime in this case, may involve very little violence as it can be committed by any assault, no matter how minor, which causes a death. However the extent of the violence is relevant to the question of culpability and where, as in this case, the evidence indicates that the death was caused by a single punch, the level of culpability is relatively low.  

"In assessing the seriousness of the crime therefore a balance has to be struck between the very high level of harm and the relatively low level of culpability. I also take into account everything said by senior counsel on your behalf, in particular that you have no significant previous conviction.

"Taking these various factors into account, the sentence I impose is 7 years imprisonment and that is backdated to 15 April 2026."

15 May 2026