Trio jailed for 51 years for stabbing man to death at bonfire gathering

Published on 05/09/2012 00:06

THREE people who murdered a man on Bonfire Night have been jailed for a total of 51 years.

Steven Evans, 28, Christopher Harrison, 20, and his cousin Daniel Harrison, 16, stabbed Billy Faulds to death at the bonfire gathering in Hogganfield Park in Ruchazie, Glasgow, last November.

Mr Faulds’s heart was almost sliced in two as a result of the attack. He was 31.

The three killers yesterday returned to the High Court in Glasgow after being convicted of the apparently motiveless murder.

A large group of Mr Faulds’s family and friends – many wearing “Justice for Billy” T-shirts – turned up to see the killers being sentenced.

Lord Bonomy handed Evans and the Harrison cousins life sentences, adding that the victim was subjected to “overwhelming force” in what was “a deliberate killing of another human being”.

Evans and Christopher Harrison were ordered to serve a minimum of 18 years behind bars. Daniel Harrison was jailed for 15 years.

Outside court, the victim’s partner Michelle Fraser said the jail terms should have been longer.

The 30-year-old – who has a one-year-old daughter by Mr Faulds – added: “They are cowardly animals, but no words can really properly describe what they done to Billy. I think they should have got more for what happened. Billy was brutally murdered.”

It emerged after the trial that Mr Faulds’s older brother David was also killed by a knife attack, in the mid-1990s.

Mr Faulds’s cousin Marie Gallacher said outside court: “Billy’s mum has been left without two kids now. It is shocking what has gone on, so sad.”

The jury earlier heard how the killers, along with another person, launched a frenzied attack on an unsuspecting Mr Faulds on 5 November last year.

William Bendoris, a friend of the victim, recalled seeing Evans and the Harrison cousins on top of Mr Faulds before he sprinted over to try to kick them off.

Mr Faulds was described as “looking lifeless” immediately after the attack.

The killers tried to cover their tracks after the stabbing by lying to police.

Evans claimed he was in bed by 11pm that night, while Christopher Harrison said he had gone out with his friend Kieran Higgins for a drive.

But Mr Higgins told how he had picked up both Evans and Harrison, and that they were heard discussing what they had done.

Harrison bragged they had “gave him it”, while Evans repeatedly said “we’re f*****” and that they were “going to get done for it”.

Daniel Harrison said he had been in a house with a relative at the time of the attack.

Lord Bonomy yesterday told the trio: “For reasons which did not emerge, you three decided to arm and disguise yourself to attack Billy Faulds.”

The judge said it was “the deliberate killing of another human being”.

He went on: “You took him by surprise, and such was the overwhelming force, he was quickly rendered helpless.

“The violence of the attack was such that his heart was almost sliced in two and he was dead in minutes.”