A killer who stabbed his best friend to death has failed in a bid to have his 10-year jail sentence cut.
Darren Barnes, known as Riley, inflicted 21 wounds on Robert Reid during the fatal attack at the victim’s home in Arnage Place, in Aberdeen, in October 2016.
Riley, 29, was originally charged with murdering Mr Reid, 26, but was convicted of the lesser offence of culpable homicide.
The trial judge, Lord Kinclaven, told the killer that relatives of the deceased had been left “devastated” by his loss.
He said: “It goes without saying that your voluntary intoxication may help to explain the background to these tragic events, but that is not an excuse.”
Lord Kinclaven said at the High Court in Edinburgh: “There is no alternative to a significant custodial sentence.”
However, lawyers acting for Riley, formerly of Don Place, Aberdeen, challenged the 10-year term imposed on Riley claiming that it was excessive.
Defence counsel Shelagh McCall QC told judges at the Court of Criminal Appeal in Edinburgh that the appeal was focused on whether Lord Kinclaven had given sufficient weight to mitigating features.
She said Riley had a limited record and had shown extensive remorse following the killing of his friend.
Miss McCall said the jury had attached a rider to its verdict that Riley had acted under provocation when he committed the offence.
She added: “The appellant was clearly injured by the deceased in what must have been a frightening and painful assault. The trial judge ought to have given more weight to the provocation and the degree of it.”
But Lord Menzies, who heard the appeal with Lord Brodie, said: “The element of provocation was at the centre of this trial and it was clearly because of that provocation that the jury reduced the charge from murder to culpable homicide.”
Lord Menzies said the trial judge was in the best position to assess the seriousness of the provocation and to consider the balance of the violence used.
The judges refused the appeal.
