Ian Geddes jailed for life of murdering Charles McKay
A man who smothered his cousin for his money then made it look like an accident has been jailed for life for murder for a second time.
Ian Geddes, 57, killed 48-year-old Charles McKay at the victim's home in Inverness in March 2003.
Two years after the killing, failed businessman Geddes was jailed for life but appeal judges last year overturned his conviction and ordered a re-trial.
A jury at the re-trial found him guilty by a majority verdict in June.
At the High Court in Edinburgh on Wednesday, judge Lord Jones noted that at the end of Geddes' first trial in 2005 he was ordered to serve at least 15 years in jail before he could apply for parole.
The judge has fixed the minimum sentence at eight years and nine months.
Lord Jones told Geddes: "The effect of that is that you will serve the same length of time."
Flight of stairs
For more than a decade, Geddes had denied he was responsible for his cousin's death.
After the incident in 2003, ambulance personnel and police were called to Mr McKay's home in East MacKenzie Park, Inverness.
They found the electrician lying at the foot of a flight of stairs. Geddes, who stayed there from time to time and also lived in Charleston View, Inverness, told them he had found his cousin there.
Although the first reaction was that Mr McKay had died from natural causes, suspicions were aroused when a letter emerged, seeking to alter Mr McKay's will so that Geddes would inherit £25,000.
And a pillow which had been in Mr McKay's bedroom was hurriedly thrown into a dustbin as refuse collectors came down the street.
Geddes was freed on bail in June 2012 after the original conviction was overturned.