Man jailed for lifestyles for murdering teen in Edinburgh

A person who stabbed a young person to dying in Edinburgh sooner than hiding the knife within the grounds of Holyrood Palace has been jailed for lifestyles.

Bailey Dowling, 21, killed 18-year-old Lewis McCartney within the Dumbiedykes house in February 2023.

He used to be sentenced to a minimum of 15 years in jail on the High Court in Edinburgh.

Dowling had denied murdering Mr McCartney and claimed he acted in self defence after he used to be struck with a bottle.

He armed himself with a big kitchen knife sooner than assembly the sufferer and his buddies in Dumbiedykes.

Violence then erupted, the court docket heard, throughout which Dowling used to be struck at the head sooner than he stabbed Mr McCartney within the again.

He claimed he used to be “dazed and confused” throughout the incident and didn’t intend to hurt the sufferer.

The court docket additionally heard Dowling concealed the knife at the grounds of Holyrood Palace, the authentic place of dwelling of the King when he’s in Scotland.

He then left Edinburgh for his house in London, the place he later passed himself in to police.

Benjamin Wilson, 20, used to be given a two-year neighborhood payback order after being convicted of assaulting Dowling via hitting him at the head with a bottle in the similar incident.

Judge Lord Matthews instructed Dowling that his sufferer had “everything to live for” and that his loss used to be devastating for friends and family.

He instructed the court docket: “It is clear you came to Edinburgh for what you hoped would be an enjoyable time and so it would have been but for the decisions you made.”

The pass judgement on added: “Taking a knife into the street is never acceptable.”

There has been a spate of knife violence amongst younger folks in Scotland in contemporary months – together with the dying of 16-year-old Kayden Moy on Irvine seashore.

Kayden is the 3rd teen to be killed in 12 months – Amen Teklay in March and Kory McCrimmon in May remaining yr, each in Glasgow.

Last week, First Minister John Swinney used to be accused of being “weak” on knife crime throughout FMQs.

Opposition events say the federal government has did not take accountability, despite the fact that Swinney mentioned the long-term development used to be that knife crime had fallen.

He mentioned the federal government used to be dedicated to a three-step method to tackling the problem – early intervention, training and efficient punishment.

BBC Scotland’s The Sunday Show additionally requested Justice Secretary Angela Constance on whether or not there used to be a right away hyperlink between cuts to early life products and services and the upward thrust in violence.

Constance mentioned there have been “many reasons” for the advanced downside – with “more than one solution” for coping with it.

“The contribution that youth work currently makes in this country and could make will be imperative going forward. It’s a key part of the solution,” she mentioned.