A FORMER soldier has been jailed for life for murdering his ex-partner five days after they split up.

Gary Brown was found guilty of murdering Alyson Watt, 52, by stabbing her 42 times at her home in Penilee Road, Paisley, on June 2 last year following a trial at the High Court in Glasgow.

He pleaded guilty to the attempted murder of a 16-year-old boy who lived with Miss Watt by repeatedly striking him with a hammer.

Brown, 55, was ordered to serve a minimum of 27 years behind bars when he was sentenced at the High Court in Edinburgh today.

During the trial, the court heard Brown had been in a relationship with Barnardo's charity worker Miss Watt for around two years but the relationship ended five days before the murder.

Brown fled after the horror attacks – but, as she lay dying, Miss Watt was able to whisper to a neighbour that the ex-squaddie was the culprit.

The teenager who was attacked suffered a severe brain injury, now needs 24-hour care and is unable to read or write.

The court heard that Brown later drove to Dumfriesshire, claiming that he planned to take his own life, where police found him in his car.

He denied murder, insisting he was suffering from an “abnormality of the mind” at the time, but jurors rejected his claim.

After a failed marriage, Brown met Miss Watt on dating site Match.com around 2015.

He described her as a “beautiful looking woman” – and believed they would one day wed.

But, in March 2017, Brown discovered a text on Miss Watt’s phone about a “friendly, drunken kiss” she may have had on a night out.

Brown’s legal team had urged jurors to convict him of the lesser charge of culpable homicide due to diminished responsibility.

It emerged after the verdict that Brown, who served in the Army during the Falklands War, had previously been fined for a violent road rage incident.

His lawyer Chris McKenna told the court: “It is clear Mr Brown is a very troubled man, resulting from his childhood and his involvement in the Falklands conflict.”

After sentencing today, Nicky Patrick, procurator fiscal for homicide and major crime, said: "Gary Brown has been convicted of the murder of his partner Alyson Watt – an offence aggravated by abuse towards her.

"The statutory aggravation ensures that, when sentencing, the court takes into account the abuse of a partner."