THE grieving family of a murder victim have hit out at the killer getting away with being caught with a mobile phone in his jail cell.

Ian Gerard Rankin - known as Gerry - was brutally killed five years ago, beaten with a baton and a crutch and stabbed 36 times with kitchen knife.

Sean Crombie was jailed for a life with a minimum of 14.5 years in prison for the attack in Gerry's flat in Graham Avenue, Radnor Park.

He had only been let out of YOI Polmont a month before the murder.

Gerry left behind a son, daughter and step-daughter and three grandchildren, one of whom he never met. He has another grandchild on the way.

His daughter Elaine said: "He was a happy guy and would have done anything to help anyone he always had a massive smile on his face.

"My dad loved his kids very much. He didn't deserve this."

Earlier this month, Crombie pleaded guilty at Kilmarnock Sheriff Court for having a mobile phone and charger in his HMP Kilmarnock cell.

The court heard prison officers had conducted a random search of the killer’s room on January 22 this year and found the mobile phone plugged into the USB port in the back of his television.

Clydebank Post:

Sean Crombie appear in the dock at Kilmarnock Sheriff Court last week

There was no details given about how he had acquired the device or the charger, however the court was told he was placed in to solitary confinement for three days as a result.

Crombie, originally from Kilbowie, pleaded guilty to the charge but Sheriff Michael Hanlon admonished him, saying, given that he would not likely be released until 2028, there was not anything more he could add.

He said: “This conviction is now marked on your record.

“Given that your date of release is some time away there’s nothing I can do to further that so I’m going to admonish you.”

But Gerry's daughter Elaine, 22, said she was appalled to learn of the lack of punishment - and that her dad's killer was just 20 minutes away from where she now lives.

She blasted: "It's about time something gets said about this scumbag. I have kept my mouth shut for nearly five years, but not anymore.

"On December 29, 2013, this boy decided to enter my dad's house and brutally murder him with not one weapon but three.

"He has been in and out of prison for years so is not a new offender. He got 14 and a half years for murder - that is NOT justice."

Crombie claimed to be friends with Gerry's son - something the family say the killer made up to justify being in the property when he carried out the murder. He was never a friend of anyone in the family.

Elaine said Crombie should "pay the price" for his crime in jail.

She said: "Me and my family are paying for this until the day we die - why shouldn't he?

"A lot of people have forgotten what he has done. He took the life of someone's son, someone's partner, someone's dad, someone's granddad, someone's brother and someone's friend.

"Sean Crombie went into someone's home and took his life for no reason.

"He is nothing but a violent thug who should never be let out of jail.

"There is no justice system in Scotland."

Posting to social media, Elaine added the hashtag #CHOOSEALIFENOTAKNIFE.