Three men who murdered an Edinburgh pensioner whilst they were “were out their nuts” have had their life sentences cut by the Court of Appeal.
The punishment part of their sentence, the minimum period they must serve in prison before they can be considered for release, has been reduced.
Keirin McMillan, 20, and Levi Brown, 17, received life sentences alongside a third young man, Aron McMillan, after killing 67-year-old Alasdair Forsyth in his own home in a brutal attack.
The court originally heard how they left the pensioner with over 80 injuries after attacking him with a screwdriver, hammer and a wrench in November 2019.
Aron McMillan was only 15 when he carried out the attack.
Last week judges at the Court of Criminal Appeal reduced the punishment parts of the life sentences given to the trio.
Aron McMillian's brother Keirin was ordered to serve at least 18 years in jail after killing Mr Forsyth - he will now serve a minimum of 16 years.
Aron was told he would serve a minimum of 17 years and three months but he will now serve a minimum of 13 years alongside co-accused Levi Brown.
At proceedings last year, Lord Uist told the trio at the High Court in Edinburgh: "Mr Forsyth suffered the most terrible injuries. He sustained a total of 80 injuries and died of blunt force chest trauma.
"It is a scandal in a supposedly civilised society that a man should meet his death in this manner.
"The attack on Mr Forsyth was a planned robbery in which each of you took a tool to be used as a weapon, namely a screwdriver, a wrench and a hammer, and battered him to death in his home.”
The McMillan brothers and Brown had earlier denied murdering Mr Forsyth, a former Edinburgh University student, at his in Clearburn Road, in the city's Prestonfield area on February 21.
All three were found guilty of the crime following a trial and the two younger killers were also convicted of a violent crime spree in the days leading up to the murder in which children and adults were attacked in Edinburgh.
After he was detained Aron McMillan made a phone call from a youth jail in which he was recorded as saying that the attack on Mr Forsyth was for money. He added: "We were all just out our nut."
The trio attacked their victim with a screwdriver, hammer, wrench, his walking stick and picture frames and kicked and stamped on him. The victim sustained extensive rib fractures amongst an array of injuries.
Keirin McMillan had brought tools to a neighbour's house before the attack and repeatedly talked about there being money in books at the victim's home.
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Police officers who responded to emergency calls went into the stairwell and heard "excited" male voices coming down the stairs before they met the blood-stained killers.
The trio’s legal teams went to the Court of Criminal Appeal last week.
A court official confirmed the outcome of the appeals on Thursday.
