Knife killer who stabbed Glasgow schoolboy Justin McLaughlin, 14, to death at train station jailed for life
A TEENAGE killer has been jailed for life today after stabbing a 14-year-old schoolboy in the heart at a city railway station in a brutal murder.
Daniel Haig, 18, fatally wounded Justin McLaughlin in the knife attack at Glasgow's High Street station on October 16, 2021, after chasing the victim who tripped and fell.
Haig, who was aged 16 when he committed the murder, was ordered to serve at least 16 years behind bars before he becomes eligible to seek release on licence.
A judge told the young killer at the High Court in Edinburgh that any future release for him would be determined by the Parole Board who would take into account public safety.
Lord Clark said the murder has had "a devastating effect" on the family of the deceased and told Haig: "They are left with dreadful loss you have caused for the rest of their lives."
He said: "Justin McLaughlin was only 14, a child, and he was getting back on his feet when you stabbed him. He was in a defenceless position."
The judge said the victim and those with him were from a different area of Glasgow than Haig and added it was "deeply disturbing" to see gang activity still happening.
Haig had earlier denied murdering his victim but admitted stabbing the schoolboy and claimed that he only wanted to "injure" him following a fight at the station.
But jurors at his earlier trial at the High Court in Glasgow rejected that and convicted him of murdering his victim after pursuing him, brandishing the lethal weapon and striking the younger boy on the body with the knife.
They heard that the dying schoolboy, who had celebrated his birthday two days earlier, pleaded for his mother as friends tried to come to his aid on the station platform following the stabbing.
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He was taken to hospital after the attack but he could not be saved.
The trial heard that the victim and his friends had arrived at the train station and spotted Haig and a friend.
Haig said to his friend: "All of them are running at us."
He told the court that got a knife from his rucksack and slipped it into his waistband. His friend urged him "not to do anything stupid".
But Haig ran at the group and a clash broke out on the platform. After the scuffle ended Haig jumped onto the track to retrieve the bladed weapon which he had dropped.
CCTV footage captured him running after the youngsters. Justin tripped and fell before Haig caught up with him and plunged the knife into him.
As Haig fled from the station he discarded the knife in a bin.
A 14-year-old friend of the victim said: "Justin was trying to stand up. He kept saying 'I need my mum…I need to go home'."
"His lips had turned blue and white. The other boys were crying," the court heard
Justin's phone rang as he lay stricken at the station and the witness said: "It was like his mum or something."
During the trial Haig said that he had the blade for "protection" and claimed that he was attacked a day earlier. He feared that
Justin and the others had followed him. He maintained that he planned to use the weapon to chase them off, but admitted stabbing the schoolboy, but only to cause a "minor injury".
Haig claimed: "It was never my intention to kill anyone." He said he felt "really bad about it".
Advocate depute Steven Borthwick KC put to Haig that after the fight stopped he was under no threat, but retrieved the knife from the tracks and chased after the other group.
The prosecutor said that Haig was intending to do serious damage to one of them, but Haig denied that.
Following the verdict it emerged that Haig had attacked a man with a garden fork and was later caught with a blade before the murder was committed.
On July 31, 2021, Callum McDonald had been at a bar in the Baillieston area of Glasgow before becoming involved in an altercation with the teenager on the street and was assaulted with a garden fork or similar item. He suffered cuts and bleeding.
Two days later Haig was searched at Glasgow Green and was found in possession of a knife. He had admitted these offences prior to his trial.
After the verdict the victim's family paid tribute to their "blue-eyed boy" with a "smile that lit up the room".
They said: "Justin had his full life ahead of him. Our life will never be the same. He was the character of the family - his younger brothers miss him so much. He was their best friend as well as a brother. It is a family devastated by knife crime."
Defence counsel John Scullion KC said of Haig: "He accepted pursuing Justin McLaughlin and striking him with a knife, causing his death, but he denied an intention to kill. It is clear from information in the (social work) report that that remains his position."
"He now bitterly regrets his actions and the tragic consequences for the deceased and his family," he said.
Mr Scullion said Haig had "adverse childhood experiences during formative years" and by the time he was 16 he was regularly using drugs and alcohol.
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The defence counsel said the case represented "a tragic waste of human life".
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