Pictured: Youth who killed solicitor with screwdriver
THIS is the teenager who murdered a solicitor with a screwdriver at a shopping centre.
Ewan Ireland, 18, who has a string of criminal convictions, was on bail for another offence when he murdered Peter Duncan, 52.
Ireland can be revealed as Mr Duncan’s killer after a court order which banned his identification ran out as he turned 18 yesterday.
He faces life in jail after last month pleading guilty to the murder in Newcastle.
It can also be revealed Ireland has 17 previous convictions for 31 offences between 2017 and 2019.
Prosecutors told an earlier court hearing that Ireland had two convictions which were ‘highly relevant’ to the murder. At the
time of the offence he was on bail for affray in which the victim was allegedly warned he would be slashed with a knife.
And on August 2, 2017 he was convicted of making threats with a ‘bladed article’.
Mr Duncan’s murder on August 14 this year happened when he ‘came into contact inadvertently’ with Ireland outside the Eldon Square shopping centre in Newcastle.
He raised his arm to let Ireland pass in a doorway to which the youth took exception.
A struggle followed and Ireland stabbed the father-of-two with a screwdriver he had stolen from a nearby Poundland.
The teenager earlier had an argument over cigarettes with another youth. That led to him stealing the screwdriver intending to confront his rival.
Ireland is due to be sentenced in December after psychiatric reports. It has also emerged he previously threatened a bus driver with a five-inch knife.
And, after a family argument, Ireland chased his mother down the street armed with a knife.