Convicted killer Alan Stirling faces new jail term
A convicted killer is facing a new jail term after he admitted an assault on his sister.
Alan Stirling threw a vacuum cleaner at her after an argument about babysitting.
The 36-year-old was jailed for four and a half years in 2007 for killing a friend in a row about a broken games console.
He was released on bail and his sentence was deferred until later this month for social work reports.
Dundee Sheriff Court heard the accused smashed his sister's living room window with a bicycle, before hurling a vacuum cleaner at her and chasing her with a metal drain cover.
Fiscal depute Ross Cargill said his sister, Angela Stirling, then ran from the house, followed by the accused.
Stirling then removed a cast iron drain cover from a manhole and approached her with it, shouting.
Stirling, of Dundee, pleaded guilty to assaulting Ms Stirling at an address in Dundee on 30 June this year.
John Boyle, defending, said the incident had been a family argument that "escalated out of control".
Mr Boyle asked that Stirling be released on bail ahead of sentencing.
He added that only one of Stirling's previous convictions was "of particular concern" - and that Stirling had been out of trouble since he was released from prison in 2009.
Sheriff Elizabeth Munro deferred sentence until later this month for background reports and released Stirling on bail.
Stirling was jailed for four and a half years in 2007 after he admitted the culpable homicide of friend Paul McDonald at a flat in Dundee on 10 August, 2006.
He had originally been charged with murder, but prosecutors accepted his guilty plea to the lesser charge.
The High Court in Edinburgh heard Stirling repeatedly punched and kicked Paul McDonald on the head and body, after a row over a games console.
It appeared that Mr McDonald either stumbled into or knocked over the TV.
Defence counsel Mark Stewart QC said there had been some fear the computer would be damaged and an argument broke out.
During a struggle, Stirling was bitten and lost his temper and attacked Mr McDonald.
He later went to help Mr McDonald and found him in the lobby where he thought he was still sleeping off the effects of drink.
He later carried his victim back to his upstairs flat in the same block and checked up on him.
Mr Stewart added: "It is extremely unfortunate that no one sought the medical attention which could have saved this man's life."