Three teenagers are due to be sentenced for the murder of 16-year-old Kayden Moy on Irvine beach in North Ayrshire. Jay Stewart, 18, Cole Turley, 18, and a 15-year-old boy who cannot be named for legal reasons carried out the fatal stabbing on May 17 2025. Turley admitted to the killing, while Stewart and the 15-year-old were found guilty of murder last month following a trial at the High Court in Glasgow.
Background and gang affiliations
All three were members of the Murray Boys group, while Kayden and others were part of the Himshie group in East Kilbride. The attack occurred when Kayden and his girlfriend Keryn Knox were preparing to leave the beach around 6pm. Rocks began to be thrown from the top of a sand dune, and Kayden went to confront the teenagers.
Ms Knox told the court: “I went up with him to try and stop him. At that point he had run up the hill and he was just shouting stuff back. Then Cole ran in from the side and Kayden has seen a blade and when he tried to run he slipped, and when he tried to get back up Cole has stabbed him in his left lower side twice.”
Details of the attack
Another witness said he had gone with Kayden to confront the teenagers. As they reached the top of the dune, Turley brought out a knife and Stewart an extendable baton. The witness said: “Then out of nowhere Cole (Turley) just started running at us. I ran to the right, so did Kayden, I jumped over a grass ledge, Kayden slipped and Cole leaped over and jumped on him. He had a knife and it hit. I saw one stab.”
The 16-year-old was so badly injured that he later died. Ms Knox described the aftermath: “His body turned completely white and his limbs were blue and people were crowding round him, trying to put his T-shirt over the wound.”
Legal proceedings and victim impact
Stewart and the 15-year-old had denied the murder charge and lodged special defences of incrimination, but these were rejected by the jury after a trial lasting more than two weeks. In a social media message ahead of sentencing, Kayden’s father Paul Moy said: “Nothing that happens in that courtroom will ever bring our son back. No sentence can fill the emptiness, the heartbreak, or the lifetime of memories we’ve been robbed of. Tomorrow is not about closure, because there is no such thing when you lose a child. It is about justice, accountability, and making sure my son’s life is remembered. Forever loved. Forever missed. Forever my son.”
Sentencing
The three teenagers are due to be sentenced on Tuesday at the High Court in Glasgow.
