A "good citizen" who found a handbag was killed amid claims he had stolen it.

Ricky McGettigan handed the item to police when he discovered it beside the Forth and Clyde canal in Kirkintilloch, East Dunbartonshire, in July last year.

Kirk McIntyre later turned up at the 51-year-old's flat in Auchinairn, Glasgow, wrongly believing he took the bag from the house of someone he knew.

McIntyre went after his frail victim before slitting his throat with a knife.

He has now been jailed for life and ordered to serve a minimum of 20 years after he was convicted.

A judge told McIntyre, of Perth, that the killing was "barbaric and cruel".

Mr McGettigan found the bag during an early hours walk.

He often went out at that time as he suffered from the ear condition tinnitus.

Mr McGettigan then handed the bag into the local police station.

Days later, on August 6, raging McIntyre suddenly appeared at his door.

The victim was then brutally attacked with a blade and left for dead.

A friend of Mr McGettigan later became concerned when he could not contact him.

William Elliot eventually went to his flat on August 9 and made the grim discovery of Mr McGettigan's body.

He recalled: "I got no answer then opened the letterbox and shouted through.

"I realised then the door was unlocked. There was blood on the hall carpet.

"I looked in the kitchen and saw Ricky lying on his back.

"His face and hair was covered in blood. I took my phone out and dialled 999."

The trial heard McIntyre later met a social worker and admitted he had committed "something bad" and that it was "high court level".

After the verdict, the court was told McIntyre had 16 previous assault convictions.

This included him being jailed for 30 months in 2016.

Lord Mulholland told McIntyre: "He was a man who had done you no harm.

"You sought him out believing he was responsible.

"He was not responsible and had merely handed in the bag as any good citizen would do.

"What you did was barbaric and cruel.

"You slit his neck and left him to his fate."