Teenagers found guilty of killing schoolboy

TWO teenagers were yesterday convicted of killing a 17-year-old schoolboy in a street attack.At the High Court in Glasgow, John Paul McCowan, 17, was found guilty of murdering Christopher Knox at Kylemore Terrace, Greenock, on June 10, last year.

His friend David Paton, 17, was convicted of culpable homicide.

The court heard that Christopher was a witness in an assault and robbery case against Paton.

Paton believed that Christopher was a “grass” and was trying to intimidate him to prevent him giving evidence in court.

At the time of the killing, McCowan was on bail and under curfew from 7pm to 7am and Paton was on bail. That night, one of Paton’s friends, Sean O’Neill, 19, spotted Christopher drinking cider with some pals and phoned Paton, who arrived minutes later with a gang.

A fight broke out and McCowan stabbed Christopher.

Paton was found guilty of killing him on an art-and-part basis because the jury accepted that he knew McCowan had a knife.

O’Neill, 19, Adam Johnston, 17, and David Rice, 18, all from Greenock who were also accused of murder, pleaded guilty halfway through the trial to much reduced charges of assault.

McCowan will be sentenced to be detained without limit of time. Temporary judge Rita Rae, QC, deferred sentence on all five until next month.