Teen who stabbed stranger eight times in Glasgow street attack jailed for 10 years after mum reported him to police
Graeme Bell, 18, was handed over to the cops after coming home covered in blood
A TEEN who stabbed a stranger eight times in a Glasgow street has been jailed for 10 years after his mum shopped him to the police.
Graeme Bell, 18, was handed over to the cops after coming home covered in blood with a kitchen knife hanging out his trouser pocket.
Earlier this month he was convicted of the culpable homicide of 48-year-old Patrick Ferguson in Midcroft Avenue, Glasgow, on February 19, last year.
Passing sentence, judge Lady Stacey ordered the thug to be supervised by the authorities for two years following his release from custody.
She added: "There is only one sentence which I can impose in this case and that is custody."
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His mum, Pauline Bell, 58, told in evidence how her son came home in the early hours of the morning covered in blood.
She said: “I opened the door to him and walked up the stairs behind him. His clothes were heavily stained. I noticed there was a knife hanging out of Graeme’s trouser pocket. There was blood on the knife.
“I took it from his pocket and said ‘I’m going to call the police’. I didn’t want him to go anywhere. I wanted him to stay until the police arrived.”
Electrician Gareth Thomas, 41, told the jury he was woken at about 2.30am that night and heard a man’s voice shouting: “Phone the police. I need help. He’s got a knife.”
He ran out into the street and found Mr Ferguson fatally wounded in the street.
Mr Ferguson’s DNA was found on the knife and on Bell’s blood soaked clothes.
Bell did not give evidence in court, but claimed through his legal team that he was acting in self-defence.
It was claimed Bell had gone to see Mr Ferguson after he was texted by the older man and offered cannabis in return for sexual favours.
The court heard that Bell had recently changed his mobile phone and did not know Mr Ferguson or how he managed to get his phone number.
Bell said he took a knife with him because he was fearful of meeting with Mr Ferguson in the early hours.
Bell claimed that Mr Ferguson who was 5ft 11in and weighed 17 and a half stone had jumped on top of him.
His defence QC Donald Findlay claimed that Bell had lashed out with knife he had taken from his mother’s kitchen earlier in the evening.
But, the jury did not believe he was acting in self defence.
The jury heard that Bell stole a quantity of cannabis resin from Mr Ferguson that night.
Mr Ferguson’s mother 77-year-old Elizabeth Ferguson said that when she woke up on February 19, 2016, her son was missing.
She said when she walked down the street to get messages she was told someone had been killed.
However, it was not until Saturday, February 21, last year, that she was told her son had been stabbed to death.
Mrs Ferguson was asked by prosecutor David Taylor: “Did the police tell you Patrick was the person who was dead,” and she replied: “I didn’t find out until Saturday when they had fingerprints and they took me to the mortuary and it was him.”
Mr Taylor told the court that Mr Ferguson was his mother’s carer and she had to move to sheltered accommodation after his death.
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