A man who killed a stranger with a single punch after wrongly thinking he was stealing from a woman's handbag has been jailed for two years and eight months.

Mariusz Winiarski, 35, knocked Brian Stirling to the ground outside Dreadnought nightclub in King Street, Bathgate.

Mr Stirling, 54, later died later from injuries caused by his head hitting the ground after the blow.

Winiarksi will also be deported back to Poland at the end of his sentence.

At the High Court in Glasgow, Lord Burns told first offender Winiarski: "No sentence that I can impose can bring Mr Stirling back to his family or his long-term partner.

"He was much loved and his partner and family are devastated by his death."

The judge said that, but for Winiarski's early plea of guilty, the sentence would have been one of four years.

The court heard that Winiarski, who was employed as a driver, saw Mr Stirling looking into a woman's handbag and thought he was stealing from her.

He walked up to Mr Stirling and felled him with a single punch. His fatal injuries were caused when his head struck the ground.

Lord Burns told Winiarski that he would be deported at the end of his sentence.

He added: "It is clear from the CCTV footage you attacked Mr Stirling by punching him. You made no attempt to establish what had been going on."

The footage showed that Winiarski walked past the woman whose handbag it was and never asked her what was happening.

Defence counsel John Scullion QC said: "Mr Winiarski's initial reaction was Mr Stirling was stealing from her. He accepts he was entirely wrong and accepts full responsibility for the tragic consequences of his actions."

The QC added: "Afterwards once he realised Mr Stirling was unconscious he attempted to assist him by putting him in the recovery position."

Winiarksi was charged with the murder of Mr Stirling in King Strret, Bathgate, West Lothian, in December 17, last year, but admitted the reduced charge of culpable homicide.

He admitted killing Mr Stirling, of Whiteside in Bathgate, by punching him on the head, causing him to fall to the ground and strike his head.

The court heard that Winiarski waited at the scene until police arrived and placed Mr Stirling in the recovery position.

The cause of Mr Stirling's death was recorded as blunt force head trauma.