A MAN who admitted stabbing 38-year-old Terence McGeown in a house in Port Glasgow has been cleared of murder and walked free from the High Court.

Gary McKenna, 25, admitted he inflicted the fatal wound which pierced Mr McGeown's brain during a disturbance in Broadstone Avenue, but claimed he'd been acting in self defence.

His explanation was accepted by the jury, who found him not guilty by a majority verdict.

After the verdict was read out, Judge Lord Matthews briefly addressed McKenna.

He told him: “The jury have found you not guilty of the murder charge.

"You are free to leave the court.”

McKenna had said in evidence during the trial that he'd lashed out with a knife because Mr McGeown had come towards him with a bottle neck.

During the trial the court heard that Mr McGeown was stabbed several times, with the fatal wound going through his left temple and into his brain, cutting a major artery.

McKenna, a catering worker, said he was asleep at the house and was woken up and asked to split up a fight between two women.

He told the court he's tried to separate the women but they weren't letting go.

McKenna said: “I just remember getting hit on the back of the head with what I thought was a glass bottle. I was dazed I think.

“I just turned round and grabbed the closest thing to me so I wouldn't get hurt again.”

He said he picked up a knife from beside the fireplace.

Mr McKenna said the next thing he remembered was Mr McGeown coming towards him with the neck of a bottle and added “I panicked and swung at him then ran away.”