James Smith, aged 58, who bludgeoned his brother-in-law to death with a sledgehammer and axe and then concealed his body under horse poop has been jailed for 17 years.
Smith beat Alexander Cameron, aged 67, to death by repeatedly striking him on his head with the weapons before burying him at the victims farm.
When the police came to his door, he handed them a sealed confession, but claimed self-defense in court and said that Cameron was threatening to shoot his wife.
But the judge at the high court in Edinburgh yesterday handed Smith a life sentence and ordered he spend at least the next 17 years behind bars.
Lord Matthews told Smith; “You were convicted by the jury of murder of Alexander Cameron and an attempt to defeat the ends of justice by taking various steps, the worst of which you being hogtied his body and then, using a mechanical digger, buried him among a collection of debris.”
