EVIL & SELFISH

Murder victim's family speak out as killer gets minimum of 28 years for violent spree | Thug's 'callous and cowardly' actions have left 10 children without their dads

- DAVE FINLAY

A DAD of four who murdered his brother-in-law and tried to kill three other people in a "brutal and mindlessly violent" knife and shotgun spree was yesterday jailed for a minimum of 28 years.

After the verdict, murdered John MacKinnon's two sisters described him as a "great man".

They said: "It should never be forgotten that John was defenceless at the time of his murder, when he was inhumanely shot three times in his own home, while making breakfast for his children - murdered by Finlay MacDonald, whose callous and cowardly actions have traumatised all those involved.

"Finlay MacDonald's children are now without a father due to his selfish and evil actions. John's six children are without his guidance, security and humour."

MacDonald, 41, began his rampage by repeatedly stabbing his wife Rowena, 34, after finding "flirty" text messages on her phone between her and her boss.

Giving evidence during the trial at the High Court in Edinburgh, Mrs MacDonald said the "frenzied" attack at the family home in Tarskavaig, on Skye's Sleat peninsula, punctured both her lungs and left her "squelching blood" with every breath.

The couple's kids helped keep her conscious before she was airlifted to hospital in Glasgow.

MacDonald then got in his car with a pump-action shotgun, a "couple of hundred" cartridges and a "machete-type" knife, and drove to Mr MacKinnon's house in the nearby village of Teangue.

MacDonald's sister Lyn-Anne MacKinnon, who was outside, told the court she saw him with the gun as he walked into the house, and said she heard "bangs" as he shot Mr MacKinnon a number of times, leaving him with fatal injuries.

The court heard MacDonald had borne a grudge against his brother-in-law since the pair had a violent falling-out in 2013.

After murdering Mr MacKinnon, 47, MacDonald drove to Dornie in Wester Ross, where his osteopath John MacKenzie lived with wife Fay.