A man who killed his friend by kicking, punching and stamping on his head has been jailed for eight years.

George McDonald, 45, assaulted Kevin Holmes in a lane off Main Street in Wishaw, North Lanarkshire, on March 22 2016.

McDonald, who was originally accused of murder, later pled guilty to a charge of culpable homicide.

Dr Marjorie Turner, a consultant forensic pathologist at Glasgow University, said the blunt force trauma to Holmes' head started a chain of events that led to him suffering irreparable brain damage.

She told the trial: "It only takes a small number of minutes of cardiac arrest for the brain to be starved of oxygen and irreparably damaged."

Dr Turner revealed a bruise on the left side of Kevin's head had a "distinctive pattern" seen most frequently when the injury was caused by a kick or a blow from patterned footwear.

On Wednesday at the High Court in Edinburgh, Lord Woolman told McDonald he had no other option but to send him to prison.

He said: "It is difficult to know what prompted the attack, especially as you claim that Mr Holmes was your friend

"No sentence I can impose can turn back the clock. By taking another man's life you have significantly escalated your level of offending."

McDonald, also of Wishaw, admitted he had killed Holmes, 47, on the fourth day of his trial.

His not guilty plea to assaulting another man was accepted by the Crown.

Prosecution lawyer Bill McVicar revealed McDonald had a list of previous convictions, including assaults to severe injury and permanent disfigurement, for which he had served prison sentences.