The schoolboy killer jailed for stabbing a fellow pupil to death with a knife he bought online has been freed and is back on the streets.
Daniel Stroud, who was 16 at the time and is now 25, was released last year after serving a nine-year sentence for carrying an offensive weapon at a school and the culpable homicide of 16-year-old Bailey Gwynne, who dreamed of becoming a marine.
Stroud, a part-time McDonald’s worker, knifed his fifth-year schoolmate in the chest during lunch break in a school corridor of Aberdeen’s respected Cults Academy after an argument over a biscuit in October 2015.
During his murder trial in 2016 Stroud said he was constantly teased about being fat and took weapons to school to try and impress the other children.
The killer – said to be a troubled misfit with a difficult home life – bought the £40 knife on Amazon.
During the trial at the High Court in Edinburgh, Ian Duguid QC, defending, told the court Stroud planned to return to the area where he lived when released ‘as his family and support network are there’ but said the boy had realised he faced a ‘very limited future’.
News of his release comes as another teenager was stabbed to death at a school south of the border.
A 15-year-old boy appeared at Sheffield Youth Court charged with murder, possession of a bladed article and affray after Harvey Willgoose, also 15, died on Monday.
Bailey Gwynne was killed inside Cults Academy in 2015
Knife killer Daniel Stroud is back on the streets
He had been stabbed through the heart with a hunting knife during a lunchtime altercation at All Saints Catholic High School in Sheffield.
Details of Stroud’s release also comes just days after new figures showed a terrifying rise in the number of pupils using dangerous weapons Scotland.
The SNP stand accused of presiding over a ‘terrifying collapse of discipline in Scotland’s schools’ after a surge in the number of pupils using dangerous weapons.
Figures obtained by the Scottish Conservatives show that in the three years since the pandemic there have been 293 cases reported to police of pupils using ‘an offensive weapon’ or ‘article with a blade or point’.
This represents a 50-per-cent rise on the 194 cases reported to police in the three-year period immediately before Covid. The number of police-reported cases of pupils possessing a dangerous weapon also rose from 628 to 702 (12%) in the same pre- and post-pandemic windows.
The figures were revealed in a response to Scottish Conservative education spokesman Miles Briggs from SNP justice secretary Angela Constance.
He said: ‘Bailey Gwynne’s death was a tragedy that shocked the whole of Scotland. While mercifully there have been no pupils killed by knives in Scottish schools since, the problem of weapons in schools has grown in the intervening decade.
‘Almost a decade on from the horrific death of Bailey Gwynne, it’s essential that all possible steps are taken to minimise the chances of such a tragedy ever being repeated.
‘On the SNP’s watch, discipline in our schools has collapsed and pupils, parents and teachers are living in fear of violence on a daily basis.’
Mr Briggs has now urged SNP ministers to ‘get a grip’ on school discipline and bring ‘common sense’ back to the classroom so that pupils and teachers can feel safe.
‘The huge rise in pupils using dangerous weapons highlights a terrifying collapse of discipline in Scotland’s schools under the SNP,’ he added.
‘Pupils, parents, councils, and teaching unions have been warning for years about the rising tide of classroom violence.
Scottish Conservative education spokesman Miles Briggs has urged the SNP to ‘get a grip’ on school discipline
‘We’ve had plenty of hand-wringing and warm words from the SNP, but precious little action to tackle this growing problem.
‘Just this week, we learned that teachers at a school in East Dunbartonshire are to take industrial action because they say pupils face no consequences for violent and abusive behaviour.
‘Ministers need to get a grip on this crisis now and bring some common sense back to the classroom so that pupils, teachers, and support staff can feel safe in schools.
‘That includes taking a zero-tolerance approach to weapons-carrying, introducing education programmes, and reducing the huge waiting times for child and adolescent mental-health referrals.’
Assistant Chief Constable Mark Sutherland of Police Scotland said: ‘One weapon in a school is too many.
‘We remain committed to working with partners, and focusing on early intervention and prevention activity to support and educate young people about the risks and consequences associated with such crimes.’
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: ‘This government remains resolute in our determination to tackle knife crime.
‘We are continuing to work with schools and local authorities to improve the safety and wellbeing of all pupils to prevent incidences further, following the tragic death of Bailey Gwynne and the findings of the independent review.’
