The Scottish Government is facing demands to reintroduce a zero tolerance approach to knife crime in the wake of teenager Kayden Moy’s shocking murder.
It comes after it emerged that one of the 16-year-old’s killers has previously walked free from court despite being caught carrying a machete.
In 2012 new prosecution guidelines were introduced to ensure even first-time offenders found in possession of a knife would appear before a jury in the sheriff court and almost certainly face jail.
View 7 ImagesKayden Moy (Image: Facebook)
The approach, combined with education programmes through the Violence Reduction Unit, resulted in significant decreases in stabbing and was lauded a huge success.
But a Sunday Mail investigation has found that in recent years the strategy has been abandoned in the face of overcrowded prisons and criminal justice budget cuts.
Since 2022 only a third of knife possession charges and less than a fifth of offensive weapons charges have been handled by senior courts.
Thousands of cases were dropped, diverted from prosecution or handled in low-level courts with more lenient sentences.
View 7 ImagesJay Stewart and Cole Turley
Last week Jay Stewart, 18, and a 15-year-old boy who can’t be identified for legal reasons, were convicted of Kayden’s murder at the High Court in Glasgow.
Their co-accused, Cole Turley, 18, had earlier admitted murdering Kayden during a gang-related confrontation involving youths from East Kilbride following a dispute on Irvine beach.
Stewart was the subject to a community payback order at the time of the murder after avoiding jail despite being caught carrying the machete.
View 7 ImagesKayden died after the stabbing at Irvine beach
Scottish Labour justice spokesperson Pauline McNeill: “If the Scottish Government has dropped their zero-tolerance approach then they have serious questions to answer. This rise has happened on their watch and they must take responsibility for their role in it.
“Young people and their families are paying the ultimate price for the SNP’s failure in our justice system and it cannot continue.”
Since 2022 only a third of knife possession charges and less than a fifth of offensive weapons charges have been handled by senior courts.
Thousands of cases were dropped, diverted from prosecution or handled in low-level courts with more lenient sentences.
The number of offenders getting jail time has also plummeted by a third in a decade.
In the last three years alone 915 cases of children caught with knives or other offensive weapons have been referred to the children’s reporter. Just eight people have been handed the maximum prison term for offences in the last 10 years.
View 7 ImagesAmen Teklay(Image: PA)
Delina, the sister of Amen Teklay, who was killed in a sword attack in Maryhill, Glasgow, told the Sunday Mail: “So much more needs to be done to stop young people losing their lives to violence and knife crime.
“Amen’s death has been so hard on our family. The impact it has had on us, on me, it difficult to even to put into words.
“My brother’s death has devastated our lives. Nothing will ever be the same for us again.
“There needs to be tougher sentences, tougher punishments, stronger deterrents to put a stop to knife crime before any more young people lose their lives and other families have to suffer like we do.”
While adults caught carrying highly dangerous weapons such as machetes can face up to four years in prison, controversial sentencing guidelines mean under-18s are far more likely to receive youth community orders.
Knife possession among 11 to 15-year-olds has risen by 15 per cent over the past five years.
Figures also show incidents with offensive weapons in schools rose by 16 per cent in 2024-25, increasing from 231 to 267 cases – the highest since separate records began in 2017-18.
Scots Tory justice spokesman Stephen Kerr: “The SNP has hollowed out community policing and taken officers out of our schools and neighbourhoods.
“The prevention, education and early intervention that once helped drive knife crime down have been weakened.
“We need police back in our communities, police back in our schools and a clear message that carrying a knife is unacceptable and will be met with meaningful consequences. The lives of young Scots depend on it.”
View 7 ImagesJohn McNab
Prosecutors also warned young people about the consequences of carrying knives following the sentencing of a 17-year-old murderer.
The teenager, who cannot be named because of his age, stabbed John McNab, 22, to death outside a block of flats in Edinburgh last September.
It came months after he had slashed a 16-year-old boy in Portobello.
Having pled guilty to both offences, he was sentenced to life at the High Court in Dundee on Thursday, with a minimum term of 17 years.
Laura Buchan, legal director at the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, said: “The murder of John McNab shows the serious and tragic harm caused when someone chooses to carry and use a bladed weapon.”
Scots Lib Dem leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said: “There need to be punishments that fit the crime, but that’s made harder when prisons are bursting at the seams under the SNP.
“More needs to be done to stop young people picking up knives in the first place.
“As a former youth worker I know it can make all the difference when it comes to getting kids back on track, but services have suffered years of cuts.
“I also want to see knives stored more securely in shops and bleed kits made available alongside defibrillators, changes that I hope can be made thanks to the courage and campaigning of John McNab’s mum.”
The death of amateur footballer Kayden came amid a dispute between rival gangs in East Kilbride and has highlighted the consequences of knife violence among young people.
After running from the scene, Turley stuck the knife into the grass and was heard boasting that he “just done him”. He also shouted “one-nil”.
CCTV showed the trio running and stopping to embrace each other.
The thugs went on to create a sick rap song mocking their victim. Turley also acted out the murder on the couch of a friend whose flat was used as a hideout.
View 7 Images(L-R) Teenage boys Kory McCrimmon, Kayden Moy and Justin McLaughlin all lost their lives due to gang violence
Kayden Moy’s death came amid a wave of knife violence.
Just weeks earlier 15-year-old Amen Teklay was killed in a sword attack in Maryhill, Glasgow.
Two boys, aged 15 and16, deny his murder.
Kory McCrimmon, 16, died after he was stabbed in the heart at Greenfield Park inGlasgow in 2024.
Kory and his attacker, who was 13, were associated with rival gangs.
In May last year, his attacker now 14, was locked up for five years.
It came after the boy, who cannot be named due to his age, pleaded guilty at the High Court in Glasgow to culpable homicide while acting under provocation.
Judge Lord Mulholland told him he had “devastated many lives” with his actions.
View 7 ImagesHigh Court in Glasgow(Image: Getty Images)
In 2021, Justin McLaughlin, 14, was stabbed in the heart by a gang rival on a train near the city’s High Street station.
Daniel Haig, who was 16 when he committed the murder, was jailed for at least 16 years in July 2024.
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “While sentencing in each case is for the independent court to determine, we continue to work with partners to tackle and prevent youth violence and in particular knife crime, including effective consequences for offences and police action such as stop and search, alongside education, diversion and mentoring programmes.
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“This is supported by our investment of more than £6million since 2023 to implement the Violence Prevention Framework that supports targeted prevention and early intervention activity in schools, hospitals and across communities to tackle violence and its harms including the use of any weapon including knives.”
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