A CRAZED killer who carried out a bizarre mock-religious ritual with the body of a man he had throttled and slashed wept as he was jailed for life today.
Leslie Moohan, 25, wrapped the mutilated body of former oil worker David Redpath in bedclothes and plastic bags and dumped him under a bed in the Edinburgh guest house where they were both living.
When police caught up with Moohan he gave them a c
hilling account of how he lay beside the dead body and administered "last rites" before going to his own father's grave to pray for forgiveness.
Moohan also claimed he was out of his head on street drugs and cheap cider as well as prescribed medication at the time.
At the High Court in Edinburgh judge Lord Mackay of Drumadoon ordered that Moohan should serve at least 15 years before he can apply for parole.
"You have pleaded guilty to committing a brutal murder which you committed in a particularly disturbing manner," said Lord Mackay.
"It is difficult to imagine how anyone who is sane and fit to plead and not suffering from mental illness could have acted in the way you did both before you killed the deceased but also thereafter, inflicting further injuries on his body and placing him in the position and condition in which he was found."
The judge added: "Abuse of drugs and alcohol does not provide any excuse for what you did."
Moohan had admitted the murder on February 1 at Harrison Road, Edinburgh, by striking Mr Redpath, 39, in the face, stuffing a sock into his mouth and strangling him with two belts, then cutting him.
"Moohan tried to carve something on the man's head with a razor," said advocate depute Simon Bowie, prosecuting.
The following day Moohan returned to the guest house, lay beside the body and gave Mr Redpath "last rites" before going on the run again.
The body was found that evening and police were called in.
Moohan's "besotted" girlfriend, Diane Armstrong, 26, claimed the dead man was Moohan – and later admitted attempting to defeat the ends of justice by lying to the police.
Today first offender Armstrong escaped a jail sentence. Lord Mackay put her on probation for three years and ordered her to carry out 200 hours of unpaid community work and get help for her drug problem.
The judge noted that she had already spent five months in prison waiting for the case to come to court.
Armstrong was also living at the Harrison Road address, which serves as a hostel for the homeless.
The court heard how petty thief Moohan and father-of-two Mr Redpath became friends there.
Moohan claimed that Mr Redpath had discovered letters linked to the counselling Moohan was getting about abuse he had suffered as a child and began to taunt him.
He said he just "snapped" but could remember little of the killing.
Lord Mackay noted that there was nothing to support Moohan's account of events.
Solicitor advocate John Keenan, defending, said Moohan was full of remorse.
As they left court Mr Redpath's family issued a statement describing Mr Redpath as a much-loved son, brother, father, uncle and friend.
"The nature of David's death has been a great shock to us all and we are trying every day to come to terms with it," it said.
The court heard that Mr Redpath form Peterhead had overcome a drink problem and was in the second year of a computing course in Dalkeith when he died.
The full article contains 597 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
