A KILLER who stabbed a dad to death in front of his kids apologised to his devastated partner as he fled, it was claimed.
Christopher Nicol, 27, was knifed by an intruder who may have wrongly thought he kept large amounts of cash at home, cops revealed.
The knife killer is believed to have said “sorry” to Nicol’s girlfriend as he made his escape after the botched robbery.
His girl, six, and boy, five, witnessed the bloodbath as they played with colouring books in their Greenock living room.
Police said the crime was “absolutely sickening”.
The killer fled with only a three-figure sum.
Neighbours claimed the killer apologised to Nicol’s girlfriend following the frenzied blade attack on Thursday night.
Annmarie McKinnon, 36, said: “His girlfriend said the man said ‘give us the money’ and she just said ‘we didn’t have any’.
“She managed to grab the scarf off his face. She was shouting ‘can you please just go?’
“After the commotion she said he ran out the door and he said ‘sorry’ before locking the door shut.”
Annmarie, whose partner Andrew Haxton, 48, performed CPR on Christopher, added: “He’d came into quite a lot of money recently after his grandad died.
“I don’t know how much but he’d been working hard on his house.”
Nicol had hoped to take his young children to Florida on a dream holiday but instead died in front of them.
Detective Chief Inspector Martin Fergus revealed the horrific details behind the dad’s death at a press conference at Greenock Police Office.
He said: “I’m investigating the murder of a 27-year-old father who was brutally murdered in his living room. It was an abhorrent and violent attack in the presence of his two children, his six year-daughter and five-year-old son.
“His children were staying with him for the September break.
“He was helping his son with his colouring book and his girlfriend was making dinner with his daughter. It was a typical family scene you would see up and down the country.
“At around 9pm there was a call at the door. His girlfriend answered and she was violently pushed aside by a male, whose face was covered by a scarf, brandishing a knife in his right hand.
“An initial scuffle ensued where the scarf was pulled off and Christopher was brutally stabbed to death.
“His partner and neighbour tried to resuscitate him, having called emergency services.”
DCI Fergus added: “This was a young man who kept himself to himself and was a doting father to his children.
“At this time we believe that the motive for this was robbery and that Christopher was targeted specifically because his attacker thought there was a large sum of money in the house, which was not the case.
“He had been saving money to take his children to Florida. We believe the suspect knew Christopher and intended to rob him.
“For whatever the reason, to carry out such a brutal attack in front of such young children is sickening.
“It shows an absolute disregard for their safety or suffering. This callous killer must be caught.”
DCI Fergus said that police are reviewing CCTV footage and carrying out door-to-door enquiries.
It is not known at this stage where the murderer went after the brutal attack.
The suspect is described as between 20-30 years of age, with a local accent, he is approximately 5 ft 9in tall, slim build, with an unkempt, reddish, brown beard and moustache.
He had bad teeth, with some visibly missing. He was wearing a black beanie hat with a logo, possibly Timberland, black top and black jeans or bottoms.
Anyone with information should contact detectives from the Major Investigation Team (West) via 101 quoting incident number 3888 of 26 September 2019. Alternatively, Crimestoppers can be contacted on 0800 555 111, where anonymity can be maintained.
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