A teenage thug is facing life behind bars for the murder of a schoolboy at a railway station.
Daniel Haig stabbed 14-year-old Justin McLaughlin in the heart on October 16, 2021.
Jurors heard how the dying schoolboy – who had celebrated his birthday two days earlier – begged for his mum as friends came to his aid on the platform of Glasgow‘s High Street station.
Justin was taken to hospital but did not survive.
Haig, 18, had denied murder but admitted stabbing the schoolboy, claiming had only wanted to ‘injure’ him after a fight at the station.
Daniel Haig, 18, is facing life behind bars for the murder of a schoolboy at a railway station in 2021
Daniel Haig stabbed 14-year-old Justin McLaughlin (pictured) in the heart on October 16, 2021
He was yesterday convicted of murder following a trial at the High Court in Glasgow.
The killer now faces a life sentence when he returns to the dock in August.
The trial heard how Justin and his friends had arrived at the station and spotted Haig and a friend.
Haig said to his friend: ‘All of them are running at us.’
He told jurors he got a knife from his rucksack and hid it in his waistband.
His friend pleaded with him ‘not to do anything stupid’.
But Haig ran at the group and a fight broke out on the platform.
After the scuffle ended, Haig jumped onto the track to retrieve the blade which he had dropped.
CCTV captured him chasing the youngsters. Justin tripped and fell before Haig caught up and plunged the knife into him.
As the thug ran out of the station he tossed the knife in a bin.
A 14-year-old friend of the victim told how he staggered and fell. She added: ‘Justin was trying to stand up. He kept saying, ‘I need my mum… I need to go home’.
‘His lips had turned blue and white. The other boys [with them] were crying.’ Justin’s phone then rang as he lay stricken at the station. The witness said: ‘It was like his mum or something.’
Jurors heard how the dying schoolboy – who had celebrated his birthday two days earlier – begged for his mum as friends came to his aid on the platform of Glasgow ‘s High Street station
Haig told his KC John Scullion that he had the blade for ‘protection’ having been attacked a day earlier. He feared Justin – a stranger – and the others had followed him.
He planned to use the weapon to ‘chase’ them away, but admitted stabbing Justin although only to cause a ‘minor injury’.
Mr Scullion asked: ‘How do you feel that you killed Justin McLaughlin? His family are in the courtroom.’
Haig said: ‘I feel really bad about it. I would like to apologise to them. It was never my intention to kill anyone.’
Prosecutor Steven Borthwick, KC, later put to Haig that after the fight stopped on the platform, he was under ‘no threat’.
Mr Borthwick said Haig instead got his knife from the tracks and chased the group, adding: ‘You were intending on doing serious damage to one of them.’ Haig replied: ‘No.’
After the verdict, Detective Chief Inspector Brian Geddes said: ‘I hope the outcome brings Justin’s family at least a degree of closure.’
It emerged after the verdict that Haig attacked a man with a garden fork – and was later caught with a blade – months before the murder.
On July 31, 2021, Callum McDonald had been at a pub in Glasgow’s Baillieston before becoming involved in an altercation with Haig on the street and was assaulted with a garden fork or similar item. He suffered cuts and bleeding.
Two days later – yards from the High Court where he was eventually convicted of murder – he was seen on CCTV with a blade.
Mr Borthwick said the thug was searched at Glasgow Green and a blue knife was found.
Haig had pleaded guilty to these charges prior to the trial, but it could not be reported until the end. Haig was remanded in custody.
After the verdict, Justin’s family paid tribute to their ‘blue-eyed boy’ with a ‘smile that lit up the room’.
They said: ‘Justin had his full life ahead of him. Our life will never be the same. He was the character of the family – his younger brothers miss him so much. He was their best friend as well as a brother. It is a family devastated by knife crime.’
