Second tragedy hits family in 2018

Just months after Mr Stewart’s death, the family was hit by a second tragedy when his stepson Karl Morris stabbed his 10-year-old son Kane to death.

However, despite being stabbed once in the chest and five times in the back, Kane attempted to reach a room in which an eight-year-old girl was sleeping.

She survived the incident and spent four weeks in hospital.

Morris then stabbed himself several times before throwing himself out the window of his flat in the town’s Union Street.

Morris had five stab wounds, a fractured left femur, a fractured pelvis and rib injuries, all of which were self-inflicted.

When questioned by detectives Morris said: “I was taking them to a better place away from evil,” adding: “I’ve done a horrible thing.”

The 39-year-old admitted to a reduced charge of culpable homicide on the grounds of diminished responsibility at the High Court in Glasgow in June.

He also admitted a charge of attempted murder against the girl and a third charge of possessing cannabis on November 11 last year.

He was sentenced to 16 years in jail at the High Court in Aberdeen last month.

Clinical professionals told the court that a combination of Morris’s personal history and his time in the military could have led to the “catastrophic and impulsive” act.

Judge Lord Mulholland praised Kane, saying: “It seems to me Kane showed incredible bravery and self-sacrifice.

“Having sustained these life-ending injuries, rather than himself being his primary concern, his concern was for the girl.”

Morris, who was in the Army for five years, worked as a farmhand in the family business in Coupar Angus.