A MAN has been jailed for 10 years after being found guilty of beating a motorcyclist to death over a deacde ago.
Thomas Pryde, 38, from Perthshire, admitted to attacking 46-year-old Adam Alexander in 1999 after a business row.
Pryde earlier admitted culpable homicide during the trial at Edinburgh High Court, saying he had "lost the plot" over a business deal that turned sour.
It wasn't until 2006 that Pryde confided to his wife about the killing while they were on holiday. After their relationship broke up in 2007 Pryde's wife went to Police and told them about the crime.
Despite a large-scale search in 2008, Police failed to find any trace of Mr Alexander's body, even though Pryde had revealed where he had been buried. His body remains unfound to this day.
Judge Lord Bracadale told him: "This happened in 1999 and to this day the body of Mr Alexander has never been found, despite efforts which you have at least made - and continue to make - to assist in that regard.
"The anxiety which his disappearance must have caused to his family, and years of not knowing what happened to him, and now the knowledge that his body lies somewhere on waste ground, must all be very hard to bear."
The court heard Pryde is already serving a five-year sentence for a drive-by shooting at the home of a business rival.
Source: BBC News
