A convicted murderer who attacked his pensioner friend because he owed him money has been jailed for 13 months.

William Sweeney, 76, assaulted Edward Wotherspoon, 68, who was in a pub socialising at the time. Sweeney went in shouting and tried to hit his friend with a knife he had in his right hand.

He also tried to punch Mr Wotherspoon, before being escorted out of the Sir John Stirling Maxwell pub on Kilmarnock Road, in Glasgow's Shawlands area.

Sweeney has a previous conviction from 1964 from London Central Court for murder and a High Court conviction from 2001 for assault to severe injury.

Sweeney pled guilty to repeatedly attempting to punch Mr Wotherspoon and strike him on the head with a knife on January 22, this year.

Sheriff Sam Cathcart sentenced Sweeney to 13 months in prison for his crime. The court heard Mr Wotherspoon and Sweeney had been friends for years.

Around 5pm the victim and some friends were in the pub, sitting near the bar when Sweeney came in shouting.

His voice was instantly recognised and he was spotted with a silver Stanley knife. Procurator fiscal depute John Bedford said: "He attempted to strike the complainer on the face with the knife."

He told the court Sweeney tried to punch the complainer on the head. Those nearby intervened and the knife was taken off of him before he was ushered out of the pub and the police called.

When police later spoke to him he told them: "I went in to the pub to ask Mr Wotherspoon for money he owed me for ages. He pushed me, I pushed him back."

Defence lawyer Bill McCluskey said: "Mr Sweeney has been quite clear from the start he wanted this matter resolved."

He added that his client's initial recollection was not supported by CCTV but that Sweeney now "accepts fully his responsibility for it".