Scotland's killer kids: Three teenagers locked up over beach murder of Kayden Moy
Three more young boys have been convicted of murder this month. We take a look at Scotland's killer kids.
Scotland has been grappling with a youth violence and knife crime epidemic for decades. Recent murder convictions for the deaths of 16-year-old Kayden Moy and 22-year-old John McNab have spurred on the First Minister and Justice Secretary to hold talks about a potential knife amnesty. It is hoped that further tragedy can be prevented by giving young people the opportunity to give up their blades.
During the last knives amnesty in Scotland in 2016, more than 12,500 knives and other weapons, including machetes, swords and meat cleavers, were handed in over a five-week period. While an amnesty might allow us to take weapons from the hands of those intent on causing harm, it does not allow us to forget about the harrowing cases of lives lost prematurely at the hands of others.
Kayden Moy
Kayden Moy was brutally murdered by three teenagers at Irvine Beach in Ayrshire on May 17, 2025. Jay Stewart, 18, and a 15-year-old who cannot be named for legal reasons stabbed the teenager on the stomach and legs at the beauty spot after a row erupted between rival gangs. A third teenager, 18-year-old Cole Turley, pleaded guilty to the murder before the trial began at the High Court in Glasgow. After a confrontation at the beach, the trio rushed at Kayden. When he fell to the ground, he was stabbed to death. Stewart shouted 'Murray Boys' in the moments after Kayden was fatally knifed. The gang were pictured on CCTV running away from the scene after the murder. Members of the 'Murray gang' posed with blades on social media in the years leading up to Kayden's death.
The baby-faced thugs roamed through East Kilbride drinking Buckfast and inciting violence. Shocking images show the killers masked up and posing with weapons. One photograph shows Stewart, who has his face covered with a checkered scarf, holding a Rambo-style machete. He has his arm around the masked-up 15-year-old, who is holding a bottle of Buckfast and a blade. Another image shows Stewart holding a bottle of wine while the 15-year-old brandishes an item thought to be a weapon which has been blurred out. Other pictures show the yobs with their hoods up and faces masked sitting on a bus, clutching bottles of Buckfast. A further image shows them pictured on what appears to be the same night standing outside an astroturf football pitch. The three teenagers are due to be sentenced next month.
John McNab
A teenager who stabbed 22-year-old John McNab to death with a 'rambo knife' while on bail for a slashing was jailed for life earlier this month. The 17-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, chased and killed John in an unprovoked attack on Great Junction Street in Leith, Edinburgh, on September 2 last year. The victim pleaded with his attacker before the murder, begging: 'Please, please don't. I haven't done anything.' He was handed a life sentence with a minimum term of 17 years at the High Court in Dundee. The fatal stabbing came just four months after the teenager was released on bail for a separate knife attack on a 16-year-old boy on the capital's Portobello Beach. The male youth admitted murdering Mr McNab by repeatedly striking him with a knife and assaulting the teenager in the Portobello attack to his severe injury by repeatedly striking him with a knife. John McNab tragically died at the scene after suffering multiple stab wounds. Prosecutors released pictures of the 20-inch knife with the words 'kombat tactical' engraved on the blade.
Kory McCrimmon
In May 2024, 16-year-old Kory McCrimmon was stabbed to death in a row over £50 at Glasgow's Greenfield Park. The schoolboy was associated with his killer, then 13, via rival gangs. In the days before Kory's death, the pair had exchanged threats with each other on social media. The relationship had initially been friendly before it turned sour amid a fall-out over £50. The young killer, who we cannot name for legal reasons, initially faced an allegation of murder. A guilty plea to the reduced charge of culpable homicide was, however, accepted instead. He was sentenced to five years in detention. The attacker will remain in Kibble Secure Unit in Paisley, Renfrewshire.
Justin McLaughlin
Justin McLaughlin, 14, died after he was stabbed through the heart by Daniel Haig at Glasgow's High Street station on October 16, 2021. Haig, who was 16 at the time, plunged a knife through Justin's heart after chasing him at the railway station. The pair had uttered remarks to one another about the area in Glasgow they were from before Haig launched the merciless attack. Justin tripped and fell before Haig caught up and plunged the knife into his heart. The dying schoolboy begged for his mum as he lay bleeding while Haig ran from the scene and tossed the bloodied knife in a bin. Haig, who had never met Justin before, was jailed for life in August 2023. Speaking to the Record at the time, Justin's auntie Maggie McLaughlin said: 'Youth violence is becoming extreme. I'm worried another child will die if something isn't done now to tackle the issue. Victims and perpetrators are getting younger and younger. Justin had his whole life ahead of him and it was taken away in one single moment. He was only 14.'
Conner Cowper
At a flat party in Holytown in Lanarkshire on April 12, 2018, then 18-year-old Jolene Doherty plunged a kitchen knife through the neck of a boy she barely knew. Conner Cowper was just 18 when he was murdered in cold blood at the hands of Doherty, who was intoxicated on a cocktail of drink and drugs. She became one of Scotland's youngest female killers and was caged for a minimum of 16 years. Doherty, who went on to have a baby behind bars, was unmasked as Conner's murderer on her 18th birthday. Witnesses described the scene as chaotic. There had been no argument, no scuffle, just a sudden eruption of violence from a teenager who seemed calm one moment and capable of murder the next. Doherty, who was heavily pregnant at the time, had been drinking and taking cocaine before arriving at the flat. She was, by all accounts, in a volatile mood and fixated on confrontation. Conner, who had been chatting with another guest and enjoying the party, allegedly made an offhand comment that she took offence to. Within seconds, Doherty had armed herself with a kitchen knife, walked up to the teenager and stabbed him in the neck with such force the blade cut through an artery.
