Michael Morrison jailed for drowning Sharon Brown
A man who drowned his ex-fiancée in a bath after she told him she loved another man has been jailed for life.
Michael Morrison, 27, admitted holding Sharon Brown's head under water at her home in Clydebank in December while her two children were in the property.
When police were called to the scene one of the children told them: "Mummy is asleep in the bath."
Former nightclub bouncer Morrison must serve a minimum of 13 years for murdering the 27-year-old nurse.
At an earlier hearing, the High Court in Glasgow was told that Morrison and Miss Brown had been engaged to be married before their two-year relationship ended on 3 December.
'Laughing at me'
It emerged the mother-of-two had started dating another man, Raymond Cossar.
The court heard that a week later, Morrison told a friend: "I'm so hurt by what she has done. They are laughing at me. They have got to be punished."
The next day, he told another man: "I could kill her for what she has put me through."
On 12 December, Morrison told a friend that he was going to pick up his young son and take him to see Santa.
He had been due to go with his mother, Anne Riddell, but texted her to say that he was unwell.
Morrison, from Knightswood, Glasgow, then went to Miss Brown's home in Bell Street, Clydebank.
About midday, Morrison called for an ambulance and told the operator: "Tommy D killed my girlfriend. She is lying in the bath."
Medics soon arrived and found Miss Brown in a bath of water which was stained red. She was also found to have a stab wound to her neck.
Police attended and discovered one of the victim's young boys wandering around the house.
Prosecutor Kath Harper told the court: "The child said: 'Mummy is asleep in the bath'.
"The children were then kept in the living room, where they were cared for."
Miss Brown - who worked as an auxiliary nurse at the city's Gartnavel Hospital - was pronounced dead at the scene.
It was later found that she had died as a result of being drowned.
Morrison, from Glasgow's Knightswood area, initially claimed to officers that he "did not know" what had happened to Miss Brown.
The court heard that two days after the killing he told his mother - while on remand in Greenock Prison - that he had stabbed Miss Brown and drowned her.
He then wrote a letter to his aunt, May Riddell, weeks later in which he admitted stabbing Miss Brown, but this time claimed he had tried to get her out of the water.
It read: "She was splashing me and telling me what she was getting me for Christmas - then she changed the conversation and started talking about him.
"She said: 'I have been seeing Raymond on and off for six months and I love him.' We then started arguing."
Morrison claimed he grabbed a knife to give Miss Brown a "fright" but that the blade went into her neck.
He went on: "I gave her a kiss and a cuddle - told her I loved her and told her I was going to get help."
He said he sat Miss Brown up in the bath and he left the property.
Morrison claimed that when he returned her body was submerged in the water, and that he moved to get her out.
He said Miss Brown must have drowned while he was outside waiting for an ambulance.
The court was also told that Morrison later confirmed to a psychiatrist that he had made up a character called 'Tommy D'.
Jailing him for life at the High Court in Edinburgh, Lord Mackay said: "Whatever the background to the events of 12 December 2010, the charge to which you have pled guilty is a very serious one.
"What you did will have lasting consequences for all members of Sharon Brown's family, in particular for her mother and her two young children."
The judge said he would have jailed Morrison for a minimum of 16 years but for his guilty plea over the "evil act".