Cults Academy stabbing: 16-year-old Bailey Gwynne stabbed to death 'after a row over a biscuit'

Another 16-year-old boy is on trial accused of his murder

Chris Green
Tuesday 01 March 2016 20:24 GMT
Bailey Gwynne was fatally injured at Cults Academy in Aberdeen in October last year
Bailey Gwynne was fatally injured at Cults Academy in Aberdeen in October last year

A schoolboy died after being stabbed in the heart during a scuffle with another teenager which was sparked by a row over a biscuit, a court has heard.

Bailey Gwynne, 16, was fatally injured during the fight at Cults Academy in Aberdeen in October last year and later died in hospital. On 1 March another 16-year-old boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, went on trial accused of his murder.

A witness who saw the fight said it started as an argument after Bailey had refused to give some biscuits to another boy. The pair began punching each other and then the other boy pulled out a knife from a pocket inside his jacket which “went into Bailey”, the witness said.

According to another witness statement read out at the High Court in Aberdeen, Bailey “lashed out” at the accused boy after he told him: “Your mum’s fat”. In the course of the fight, he received a wound to the heart which proved fatal.

Computing teacher Alasdair Sharp, 28, was the first teacher to arrive on the scene but did not initially realise the seriousness of Bailey’s injuries. After separating the pair, he started to lead them away along a communal part of the school known as “The Street” towards an office.

“As I got to towards the end of the Street I turned around and I saw Bailey staggering towards the wall,” Mr Sharp told the court. “[The accused] was a wee bit behind him, was moving towards him looking like he was going to help him. At this point I noticed the trail of blood going along the Street, where we’d come from.”

The teacher then saw that Bailey had become “very pale” and that “there was a lot of blood coming out of him”. He added: “To begin with he seemed fairly coherent, but as events unfolded he began to lose consciousness.”

The trial also heard evidence from the school’s head teacher Anna Muirhead, who described how she had walked over to the scene of the incident after being informed by a member of staff and saw the boy accused of murdering Bailey sitting nearby in a “distraught” state. She said that when she tried to speak to him, he had told her: “Just take me to the police.”

After the incident a knife was recovered from a recycling bin in a communal area of the school, the court heard.

The accused teenager denies murder as well as being in possession of knives or bladed instruments and two knuckledusters at the school between 1 August 2013 and the day of Bailey’s death. The trial, which is expected to last five days, continues.

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