Lewis Mullen was found guilty of culpable homicide at the High Court in Glasgow.
A knife thug who stabbed his friend to death is facing a lengthy jail-term.
Lewis Mullen, 25, attacked Jack Trainner in the common close of the victim’s flats in Port Glasgow, Inverclyde on April 27 2024.
Mullen had stood trial at the High Court in Glasgow accused of murdering the 27 year-old.
But, he was today convicted of the reduced charge of culpable homicide while acting under provocation.
Mullen will be sentenced next month.
Jurors heard how the men knew each other and would sometimes play video games together.
Mullen had gone to his friend’s home that day.
Giving evidence, he told jurors: “I thought it would be like any other time and he would invite me in.
“When I knocked, I could see that he was aggressive right away.”
The trial heard claims Mr Trainner had a crossbow and then a knife at different stages.
A struggle then spilled outside before Mullen followed Mr Trainner back into the block.
The killer said the man went at him with a knife before Mullen struck the victim with a purple-bladed weapon that he had in rucksack.
Mullen believed he only struck his friend once in the chest although it emerged he also had a cut near his eye.
Asked by his KC Thomas Ross how long he had to “assess his options” that day, he replied: “Seconds – it all happened so quickly.”
He believed had he turned his back he would have been stabbed.
Mullen left the scene, but later handed himself into police after he discovered Mr Trainner had passed away.
Prosecutor Wojciech Jajdelski later put to Mullen why he had not simply “walked away” after they had been outside.
He replied: “We were friends. This was not the Jack I knew. I thought I could calm him down.”
After the verdict, Mr Jajdelski said Mullen had a number of previous convictions, but had never been sentenced to jail.
Lord Renucci continued his remand in custody as sentencing was deferred until February 12 in Dundee.
