Killer moved victim 100 metres away from Edinburgh flat after 'fatal blow' and left him by bins before calling 999 and pretending to find him

A killer who saw his conviction quashed on appeal has been jailed for six years after he admitted committing the fatal attack.

David Ditchburn struck a single blow to his victim at a flat in Edinburgh before moving the injured man about 100 metres and leaving him near bins.

The victim, father-of-three John Ashwood, who had been drinking heavily, died after sustaining complications to a blunt force mouth injury.

The High Court in Edinburgh.

Ditchburn, 46, made a phone call to emergency services claiming to have found a man lying in the street covered in blood who did not seem to be breathing, but then walked away from the scene.

He later told a witness: "I'm a bad person." He also said he was trained as a fighter and was a bare knuckle boxer.

Previously denied

Ditchburn, who has 68 previous convictions, including 10 for assault, stood trial after denying the killing of Mr Ashwood, 51, at the High Court in Edinburgh in 2018 and was jailed for six years after he was found guilty of culpable homicide.

But his lawyers went to the Court of Criminal Appeal and succeeded in having the conviction overturned after claiming that the trial judge misdirected jurors.

The Crown brought a fresh prosecution against Ditchburn and today he pled guilty to culpable homicide and was again jailed for six years.

He admitted assaulting Mr Ashwood on August 9 or 10 in 2018 at a flat in Brunswick Road, in Edinburgh, and striking him on the head to his severe injury and killing him.

A judge told him: "It is not clear how much force you used in striking the deceased. It may not have been much but you caused sufficient injury to lead or contribute to his death."

Lord Beckett said Ditchburn did not seek immediate medical help for his victim but instead removed him from the flat and abandoned him, although a phone call was made.

The judge said: "It is plain he was not in good health. He was substantially intoxicated, but the injury you caused led to substantial blood loss."

Advocate depute Bill McVicar said that at the original trial Ditchburn accepted that he struck the deceased by slapping his face on the right side of his jaw.

Another visitor to the flat where Ditchburn lived arrived to find the victim lying on the floor bleeding from his face and heard Ditchburn say: "I think I have killed him."

Ditchburn told him that Mr Ashwood had cancer and was a "monster", said the prosecutor.

He said that after the victim was abandoned paramedics arrived and found he had no pulse and was not breathing. A large amount of blood was coming from his mouth which had also blocked his airway.

'I'm a bad person'

Hours after the attack Ditchburn went into a chemist and asked the pharmacist: "Is there a warrant out for me?"

He said: "I'm a bad person. You think I'm a good person. I come in here and show you my good side but I'm not. I'm a bad person."

Pathologists who carried out a post mortem on the victim said there were various factors involved in the death because of alcohol and cocaine intoxication and complications of the mouth injury, which was most likely caused by a blow to the right side of the face, such as a punch.

Defence solicitor advocate Chris Fyffe said: "There was a very limited amount of violence in this case. It was a single blow."

He said Ditchburn told him he felt bad about what had happened and wanted to bring the matter to an end for the sake of the victim's family.