Mum of killer teen who stabbed Scots schoolboy to death speaks out over youth violence epidemic

dailyrecord.co.uk:

The mum of a teenager who stabbed a schoolboy to death has spoken of her horror at her son’s crime. Hazel Haig’s son Daniel was just 16 when he knifed Justin McLaughlin, 14, through the heart at Glasgow’s High Street station in October 2021.

Daniel, now 18, was convicted of Justin’s murder last month and will be sentenced in August. Hazel, 42, is speaking out in support of the Daily Record’s Our Kids … Our Future campaign in the hope that no other child will die during a wave of violent attacks amongst children.The mum, from Shettleston, Glasgow, told the Record she believes her son would never have killed if more had been done to tackle the epidemic of youth violence in Scotland.She said Daniel had witnessed his best friend being slashed with a machete in the weeks before he fatally stabbed Justin - and felt forced to arm himself with a knife over fears he would also become a victim of a brutal blade attack.Hazel said: “We were horrified to discover Justin had died.

Daniel clearly lost control because of the violence in our area at the time. He was traumatised after seeing one of his friends almost killed by a gang with a machete. "Daniel was the one who called the ambulance.

He was distraught but he saved his friend’s life.“Kids were organising fights online and there were also random street attacks.