Killer jailed a year ago for his part in a 'brutal' attack on a woman in Port Glasgow has launched an appeal to be freed

Weir Mackay was found by a High Court jury to have acted in concert with murderer co-accused Allan Docherty in the slaying of Karen Young.

But his lawyer, Brian McConnachie QC, told three appeal court judges that the blunt force injuries Mackay, 45, inflicted on the victim were 'not serious'.

The Telegraph yesterday covered his appeal against both conviction and a 14-year prison sentence via a remote internet link set up for us by the Scottish Courts Service.

The hearing was told how a forensic pathologist had considered that strangling and drug intoxication had 'in some combination' resulted in 47-year-old Ms Young's death.

But a report presented to the trial jury last year also said that blunt force trauma to her head 'perhaps may' have been a contributory factor.

Mr McConnachie said that the words 'perhaps' and 'may' are 'used generally to express a lack of certainty or maybe merely a possibility'.

The QC added: "For the jury to have concluded that the facts that they found established in relation to Mr Mackay caused death, or was a significant contributory factor to the death, there had to be evidence from which they could be satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that the crime of culpable homicide had been committed.

"The only medical evidence which they heard fell far short of providing evidence which would entitle a jury to reach a conclusion that the blunt force injuries to the head were a significant contributory factor in the death of the deceased."

Mr McConnachie told the court that injuries inflicted with a table leg were deleted by the jury from the indictment against his client, as well as any reference to him having slapped Ms Young.

The QC said: "When one takes out those specific injuries from anything that Mr Mackay was found culpable for, one is left with a fairly uncertain sequence of events.

"I hesitate to use the word trivial but [they were] certainly not serious injuries inflicted in some way that no-one knows, including the jury.

"In my submission there was no adequate link between what the jury eventually found Mr Mackay responsible for and any significant part in the death of the deceased."

Ms Young was murdered by co-accused Docherty, 35, at his flat in the Port's Kelburn Terrace on June 9, 2017 and he is now serving an 18-year prison sentence.

He killed her after she was accused of stealing drugs and the main cause of death was neck injuries, and her larynx was fractured.

Docherty claimed during the trial that he had been trying to save Ms Young's life.

Mackay, who after the killing used the dead woman's bank card to try to buy a Chinese takeaway, shouted out from the dock as he was sentenced: "I got 14 years for not phoning an ambulance!"

Turning to the sentence, Mr McConnachie told the appeal hearing that his client had an 'appalling criminal record' for crimes of dishonesty but only one conviction for assault.

The QC said: "This is not the record of a man who is generally prone to violence.

"The sentence in my submission ought to have been at the lower end of culpable homicide rather than what I would describe as being at the very top end."

Advocate depute Lisa Gillespie told the appeal hearing: "The appellant was convicted in that he did by means unknown to the prosecutor repeatedly inflict blunt force on her [Ms Young's] head and body."

The court heard that Ms Young sustained bruising on the 'underside of the scalp, at the back of the head and the top right and left side that reflected separate impacts'.

She also had bruising around her left eye and over her nose from 'blunt impact'.

Ms Gillespie said: "Mr McConnachie submitted that the jury convicted the appellant of very little.

"These were not trivial injuries, they involved multiple impacts to the head, they left visible bruising and grazing.

"The jury must have been satisfied that the appellant had acted in concert with the co-accused Docherty and the jury was satisfied that Docherty has assaulted the deceased in the more extensive manner libelled.

"So the injuries for which the jury attributed responsibility to the appellant were thus injuries inflicted on a woman who was undergoing, or who had endured, a brutal assault by the co-accused."

Appeal judges Lady Dorrian, Lord Turnbull and Lord Pentland will give a written decision on the matter at a future date.