Alexander re-appeared at Edinburgh High Court in order to be sentenced by Judge Lady Smith.

Lady Smith had to set the punishment part of Alexander's sentence - the minimum period he will spend behind bars before being able to apply for parole.

The judge said it was in Alexander’s favour that he had pleaded guilty, although it would have been extremely difficult for him not to face up to his responsibility, given there were two eye witnesses and he had confessed to police.

The plea had been tendered "at the early end of the scale" and not at the last minute as often happened, she added. "Had you not pleaded guilty, the gravity of these murders and the circumstances of them is such I would have imposed a punishment part of 24 years.

"I shall reduce that period to account for the special circumstances of your plea ... to 17 years," Lady Smith told Alexander.

The sentencing was interrupted as the public gallery erupted in angry shouts of disbelief from the families and friends of Kevin and Nicola.

The attention paid to the case by the judge during the sentencing is, as far as members of the public gallery at the time are concerned highly questionable, since she confused names in sentencing Alexander, stating the it was Barry who was with Nicola when confronted by Alexander outside the Glenrothes bar, and also that the attacks took place in Barry's, not Kevin's garden.