A teenager who stabbed a 14-year-old schoolboy and left him dying on a railway platform has been jailed for a minimum of 16 years.
Daniel Haig, from Glasgow, murdered 14-year-old Justin McLaughlin with a single knife blow which penetrated the boy’s heart. Haig was 16 years old at the time.
At the High Court in Edinburgh today, Haig, now aged 18, was sentenced to life imprisonment and ordered to serve at least 16 years behind bars.
During trial at the High Court in Glasgow in June, prosecutors were able to play CCTV which recorded the entirety of an altercation between Haig and his victim.
On 16 October, 2021, Justin McLaughlin and a group of friends had arrived at Glasgow’s High Street station to catch a train.
By coincidence, Haig and an acquaintance were already there. Daniel Haig retrieved a kitchen knife from his rucksack and stabbed the schoolboy after chasing him along the platform.
The court heard that Haig and Justin were affiliated to rival gangs in Glasgow’s east end. Haig had denied murder and claimed he was carrying a knife for ‘protection’.
At an earlier hearing, Haig pled guilty to a previous assault and to previously carrying a concealed knife.
Today he was sentenced to life imprisonment, with a minimum punishment period of 16 years.
Prosecutor Moira Orr, head of homicide and major crime for COPFS, said the carrying of knives is blighting communities and destroying young lives.
She said: “This case is tragic evidence of the destruction wreaked when young people carry bladed weapons.
“Daniel Haig armed himself with a knife. Just 16 himself at the time, he was carrying it in his rucksack as he walked in Glasgow city centre.
“And because he had that knife, Justin McLaughlin lost his life two days after his 14th birthday. His family, his friends and a wider community have been left utterly bereft.
“Our thoughts are with them now as they struggle with the enormity of their loss. Meanwhile, at the age of 18, Haig now faces a future spent in jail as a result of his actions.
“We must hope this sends a message to children and teenagers who may be tempted to carry knives. They risk causing calamitous and irreparable harm to others and to themselves.”
