A MAN has been jailed for life for murdering a friend he claimed he 'loved like a brother.'

James McGrady, 48, was told he must serve at least 12 years of the sentence after a jury found him guilty of stabbing Brian Jeffers to death during a drinking session.

It took the jury at Preston Crown Court one-and-a-half hours to find him guilty of murdering Mr Jeffers at Holden Mill Caravan Park, Grane Road, Haslingden, on June 25 last year. Scotsman McGrady, from Galston, near Kilmarnock, had told the jury that he loved the victim like a brother and claimed he was defending himself at the time of the killing.

The court heard that Brian Jefferswould have died within minutes after being stabbed in the heart during a drunken row.

Mr Jeffers - known as Jip - sustained eight wounds. Three had penetrated his heart, liver and spleen. His body was found next morning after McGrady made a 999 call.

Today, a spokesman for Holden Mill Caravan site said: "Jip was a small, disabled man. I don't think McGrady was given long enough for taking somebody's life.

"McGrady lived in caravan 48 and Jip lived in caravan eight and they both used to take it in turns to go round to each other's caravan to have a drink.

"We went to Jip's funeral but there were only five people there because we couldn't trace his family. We know he married a girl who lived in Well Street but she has since moved away. He was such a lovely man and didn't deserve this to happen. It makes you realise how precious life really is."

McGrady told the jury he and Mr Jeffers met after he left Scotland and was living in the Preston area. He said they had arguments "worse than a cat and dog" and would then shake hands.

Describing the incident in the caravan, he said Mr Jeffers had hold of a vodka bottle by the neck and he reached for the knife out of panic and fear.

He accepted that he had inflicted the stab wounds, but said he had not wanted to kill Mr Jeffers. He was trying to defend himself. McGrady said he was very drunk and his recollection after leaving the caravan was vague, but he did not think Mr Jeffers was dead or dying.

It was next morning he realised he was not breathing and his face was stone cold.

Detective Sergeant Andy Gilbert said: "We are extremely pleased with yesterday's result. The team of officers investigating this incident have done an excellent job. They have spent a lot of time working on this which paid off."