A criminal fatally stabbed a father-of-three in a random attack while on the run from prison for six months.

James Wright, 25, had breached a home curfew involving the use of an electronic tag just 11 days after being released from prison on February 13, 2017.

He killed Craig McClelland on July 23 that year on Tweed Avenue, Foxbar, Paisley, during the six-month period when he was illegally at large.

Mr McClelland, who had three young sons, had been on his way to visit his brother to play Xbox.

The 31-year-old spent the hours before his death at home in Morar Drive, Foxbar, with his partner Stacy Wilcox, a student, and their three boys, aged five, two and eight months.

The couple were watching television and discussing a forthcoming holiday to Amsterdam.

Wright was jailed for life when he appeared for sentencing before the High Court in Livingston on Monday.

The judge ordered that he serve a minimum of 20 years, saying the "awful" killing had been carried out "for no reason brought out in the evidence other than blood lust".

Lord Matthews added he had "no doubt that questions will be asked" about how Wright remained at large for nearly six months after breaching his curfew.

During his trial at the High Court in Glasgow, the jury heard that Wright had stabbed Mr McLelland twice on the night of July 23 moments after asking him if he had a light.

He had 16 previous convictions, including two for knife crimes, one of which resulted in his previous jail sentence, handed out in October 2016.

Mr McClelland was pronounced dead at Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley in the early hours of July 24, around an hour and a half after he was first discovered by paramedics.

One of the ambulance crew who gave evidence during the trial broke down in tears as she told the court how Mr McClelland had "begged not to be allowed to die".

On sentencing, Lord Matthews told Wright: "You were found guilty by a jury of the senseless murder of Craig McClelland, an innocent young father-of-three and a much-loved partner, son and brother.

"He was sailing through university and had everything to live for.

"On July 23, 2017, he left his partner and children to visit his brother to play the Xbox.

"He was never to reach his destination or to return home because he was brutally stabbed in the street for no reason brought out in the evidence other than blood lust."

He read a statement from Mr McClelland's partner Ms Wilcox to "bring home the enormity of this crime and its consequences".

It said: "I have to watch our three sons in pain, sobbing, crying, asking questions that I cannot answer.

"My three-year-old on his birthday built his daddy out of Lego.

"The despair in my six-year-old's eyes when I couldn't build a Lego set for him, not in the same way daddy did.

"The devastating sound of my baby searching for his daddy in the night, constantly shouting on him.

"The way he flaps his arms in excitement whenever he sees a picture of his daddy, it completely breaks my heart."

Ordering Wright to serve a minimum of 20 years in jail, the judge said any sentence he could pass down would be "be wholly inadequate compared to the grief you have caused".