Boy, 16, guilty of killing pupil in biscuit row
A SCHOOLBOY has been found guilty of killing a fellow pupil he stabbed during an argument over a biscuit.
Bailey Gwynne, 16, was struck in the heart in October last year.
A 16- year- old youth, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had admitted stabbing Bailey but denied murder during the fi ve- day trial.
A jury at Aberdeen High Court yesterday convicted him of the lesser charge in Scotland of culpable homicide.
During evidence, it emerged Bailey was in a corridor with a group of boys at the city’s Cults Academy.
After refusing to give the accused a biscuit, Bailey made a remark about him getting fatter, the court heard.
The jury heard that Bailey, who was on his way out of the corridor, turned round to face the accused who had made a comment about his mother. A fi ght broke out and Bailey had him in a headlock when the youth pulled out a knife.
A post- mortem examination revealed he died as the result of a “penetrating stab- force injury to the chest” which went directly into the heart.
The attacker told police as he was handcuffed: “It was just a moment of anger.” He later told offi cers: “I didn’t mean to but I stabbed him.”
The jury heard from a friend of the accused who said he had shown him a knife a day or two before the fatal incident and “thought it was something cool to have”.
Emotions ran high during the trial, which saw a teenage witness break down as he gave details of the fi ght.
The accused himself began crying when the jury heard how he was handcuffed by police at the school.
The jury took less than two hours to return their majority verdict. There was sobbing in court after it was delivered. The court was told that two families had been destroyed by the events.
Judge Lady Stacey said the teenager would be held in custody and sentenced on April 1 in Edinburgh. The society raising money this week through the Health Lottery is HealthForm in Manchester and Salford and
the society raising money next week is HealthSuccess in Norfolk