A violent thug ‘cuckooed’ the house of his murder victim and gutted it of every last valuable, we can reveal.
Michael Joyce was today sentenced to life and to serve at least 16 years for murdering community champion Michael White, 61, in Kyle of Lochalsh in April 2023.
It has now emerged that Joyce, 33, “took over” Michael White’s pride-and-joy home and stripped it of everything – from furniture to radiators – for scrap.
Michael’s son Josh said Joyce’s damaged the former hotel so much he cannot afford a massive repair bill so he must sell it.
Home was like ‘a war zone’
In court, Josh’s half-brother Adam described the hotel as looking like “a war zone.”
Josh, 25, said his dad knew the family of Joyce and his partner Antonia Gunn, 27, and offered the couple and their young children as he was a committed Christian.
But Joyce abused that offer of friendship and instead ‘cuckooed’ Michael’s house.
Police use this term to describe when drug dealers take over the house of a user to deal drugs there.
However, Michael had done nothing wrong.
He only allowed Joyce to take over his home because Joyce – who had a criminal record for violence – threatened to hurt him.
Joyce did indeed violently attack Michael and the court heard how Antonia filmed him groaning in pain after one of the incidents.
Antonia was accused of murdering Michael but the jury returned a ‘not proven’ verdict’.
Her lawyer told the jury Antonia only went along with what Joyce did because he had attacked her before and she was pregnant at the time.
Hotel was victim’s pride and joy
Michael grew up in the north-west of England and started his career as an office worker at the Manchester Evening News’s iconic Deansgate building.
He then worked for two decades as a nurse in the south of England, and then met his future wife, Sally Rowland.
She charmed Michael so much he upped sticks and moved to Kyle to start a new life with her.
The couple opened a bed and breakfast at the Old Bank of Scotland building on Main Street.
They gained rave reviews for going that extra mile for guests.
Michael and Sally showed their giving spirit in other ways, launching fundraisers for natural disasters around the world.
Sally sadly died in 2011 – and it coincidentally triggered a sequence of events that would ultimately lead to Michael’s tragic death.
Flowers led to family link
Josh said: “Someone sent flowers with a message expressing sympathy and saying ‘you have a friend in us’.”
They were from the father of Antonia Gunn, who then struck up a friendship with Michael.
The families became so close that Antonia’s dad would pass on ‘top-secret’ gifts to Josh so he could take them to school and give them to Antonia on her birthday as a special surprise from her father.
Michael also knew Joyce’s mum to say ‘hello’ to – and so there were strong social bonds, as is common in communities such as Kyle.
And so when Antonia and Joyce started a relationship, Michael wanted to help their young family prosper.
This was especially so when lockdown began in 2020 – and that turned into abuse in 2021.
Josh said: “My dad suffered a stroke around that time.
“I went up to see him and stayed there for a long time to look after him.
Murderer faked victim’s suicide
“He wasn’t his old self but he was fundamentally okay so I went back to England with peace of mind – and then everything turned sour.”
At the start of 2023, Joyce’s campaign of violence against Michael intensified.
One day in April, Joyce beat Michael so severely that he died.
Before calling police, Joyce scattered pictures and documents related to Sally around Michael’s body and then told officers that Michael had taken his own life.
But that version of events didn’t stack up.
The post-mortem test showed Michael had suffered significant blunt-force trauma to his abdomen and other horrific injuries.
Detectives launched an investigation and charged Joyce was murder.
Josh said: “The last time I saw him, he was not my dad.
“Joyce had been controlling everything: What he did, what he ate, where he went and all his finances. He was thin and not healthy.
“Joyce stole my dad’s dignity.”
Radiators stripped from victim’s house
While Michael was alive, Joyce invited himself to move into the Old Bank House and gradually began stripping it of everything of value.
Josh said: “By the end, the place was an utter mess.
“There was one room with a single bed and documents scattered, which was unusual because my dad was always very organised with paperwork.
“All the other rooms were gutted.
“Flooring, carpets, tiles, wallpaper stripped. Radiators taken off walls, the heating system and wiring gutted.
“I’ve no doubt that all that was to be sold. The mess in the back garden shows what Joyce did to the property.
“Obviously it’s not as significant as what he did to my dad physically but it shows how much disrespect he had.
“The hotel was my dad’s lasting memory of my mum and how much he cared for her. It was his life’s work and he wanted to preserve it. Now it’s gone.”
The jury heard during the trial that several neighbours – Peter and Rochelle Cullen – did express some concern about what was going on in the former hotel.
But Mrs Cullen, 52, assumed Michael had fallen ill with cancer.
Killer’s ‘doting dad’ image
Despite his criminal past, Joyce passed himself off on social media as a doting dad.
And so, when Michael’s friends would see Joyce with Michael, they assumed Joyce was a respectable family man.
Josh added: “On top of that, this was mostly all during lockdown.
“People didn’t visit each other or notice what was going on behind closed doors.
“And those that did wanted to mind their own business.
“They knew Joyce had committed crime involving a gun before and didn’t want to risk something bad happening at their own home.”
Police did visit Michael twice – in 2021 and 2022.
Things looked off because non-relatives were living in a house during lockdown restrictions despite having their own home two streets away.
But it was hard for police to intervene as Michael told them he was fine.
‘Police should have spotted it’
A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “We were contacted once in 2021 about Mr White’s living conditions and again in 2022 about his mental welfare.
“On each occasion, appropriate engagement was carried out and concerns were raised with the relevant partner agencies.
“He was also directed to other support services by attending officers.”
Josh said: “Police do a hard job and everything is a judgement call, but I think they should have spotted what was going on.
“I didn’t complain because after everything that happened I had no energy.
“However, it is important that lessons are learned so this does not happen again.”
Josh said he and his loved ones found the trial very hard to process emotionally, but he is relieved that some level of justice has been done.
“Joyce is going to be in a cell for a long time, which is at least of some consolation.
“But no sentence will ever bring back my dad, who was a compassionate, caring man to everyone he met.”