Boy, 15, who killed man and slashed shopkeeper detained for 40 months

A street of tenement buildings - shops on the ground floor, flats above. A police car is parked in the middle of the road, and there is police tape across the full width of the street. A police officer in a hat and high-vis jacket is standing the road.
Image caption,

Police cordoned off a section of Victoria Road in Glasgow after the attack on Mr Colquhoun in April

  • Published

A teenager who killed a man 30 minutes after being freed by police following a knife attack on a shopkeeper is to be detained for 40 months.

The 15-year-old, who cannot be named because of his age, earlier admitted the culpable homicide of Patrick Colquhoun, 70, in Glasgow on 12 April.

He also pled guilty to assaulting Nadeen Mohammed, 65, hours earlier.

At the High Court in Edinburgh Judge Lord Harrower told the teenager that it was "shocking that someone so young should have inflicted such unprovoked violence on two elderly gentlemen."

Lord Harrower added that he would have imposed a five year term of detention on the teenager but for his earlier guilty pleas.

The judge ordered the boy should serve a further three years under supervision in the community when he would be on licence and could be returned to custody if he breached its conditions.

The judge said he was satisfied that a custodial sentence was inevitable in the case of the teenager, who was assessed as posing a risk of further violent crime.

He added that it would be substantially less than that faced by a mature offender.

The teenager admitted that on 12 April he assaulted Nadeen Mohammed, 65, with a knife at Allison Street in Glasgow, slashing the shopkeeper on the arm.

He was arrested and then released that night, but after being picked up by his mother he became angry and jumped out of the vehicle.

Image source, PA Media
Image caption,

The teenager was sentenced at the High Court in Edinburgh

He then punched Mr Colquhoun - who had gone to get a takeaway - on the head on Victoria Road after believing he was urinating on a car rented by his father.

The teenager walked off as members of the public tried to help the victim who suffered a skull fracture, brain bleed and bruising, and died from his injuries.

Lord Harrower said he took into account the offender's age and lack of criminal record.

He added he was sure the teenager would "bitterly regret" what he had done.

The court heard that there were concerns raised about the boy's behaviour before the attacks and he had come to the attention of social workers and police.

Defence counsel John Scullion KC submitted that given he was "still very much a child" rehabilitation would be a primary consideration for the court.

Mr Scullion said: "There is evidence suggesting he was going off the rails, culminating in his commission of two serious offences."

The defence counsel said a background report noted there was "sustained use of cannabis" by the teenager in the period prior to the crimes.

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