Anger of young victim’s mother
THE mother of a young man who was stabbed to death has accused the SNP of making empty promises to crack down on knife crime.
Maureen Douglass, whose son Paul, 20, was attacked in East Kilbride, Lanarkshire, said longer jail terms pledged by the Scottish Government were rarely imposed.
The 5 -year-old housing support worker said: ‘The scale of knife-carrying shown by these figures is utterly shocking, but I am not surprised by the lack of action to tackle this.
‘Maximum jail terms of five years, up from four years, were introduced this year by the Government, but they never seem to be used – it was more of a political statement than anything else.’
Mr Douglass cooked for ex-First Minister Jack McConnell and author JK Rowling when he was aged just 16, after being nominated for the task by teachers at his catering school in East Kilbride.
The talented young chef, who had hoped to join the Army after finishing college, suffered fatal knife wounds in an attack near a block of flats in April 2011. No one has been convicted of his killing.
About 300 people later took part in a memorial march for him, to raise awareness of knife crime.