Teenager jailed for ten years for fatally stabbing stranger on Glasgow street
18 year old Graeme Bell was picked up by police after his mother turned him in
A teenager whose mother turned him over to police hours after he killed a stranger on a Glasgow street has been jailed for 10 years.
18 year old Graeme Bell returned home in the Croftfoot area covered in blood and with a kitchen knife hanging out his trouser pocket.
The High Court in Edinburgh heard how Bell was responsible for the culpable homicide of father-of-one Patrick Ferguson, 48, in Midcroft Avenue on February 19 last year.
Passing sentence, judge Lady Stacey ordered the thug to be supervised by the authorities for two years following his release from custody.
She added: "There is only one sentence which I can impose in this case and that is custody."
Bell, of Glasgow, was originally charged with murder, but convicted of the lesser charge after a trial at the high court in his home city earlier this month.
Bell was also convicted of carrying a knife.
Sentence had been deferred for the court to obtain reports about Bell's character.
During earlier proceedings, prosecutor David Taylor said Bell has four previous convictions including one for assault to injury for which he received a 12-month sentence.
In evidence, his mother Pauline Bell, 58, told of how her son came home in the early hours of the morning covered in blood.
She said: "I opened the door to him and walked up the stairs behind him. His clothes were heavily stained.
"I noticed there was a knife hanging out of Graeme's trouser pocket. There was blood on the knife.
"I took it from his pocket and said 'I'm going to call the police'. I didn't want him to go anywhere."
Bell did not give evidence in court, but claimed through his legal team that he was acting in self-defence.
Mr Ferguson's DNA was found on the knife and on Bell's blood soaked clothes.
On Friday, defence advocate Donald Findlay QC told the court that his client came from a respectable background.
Mr Findlay added: "He has a family who are really supportive and who are well organised. However, at some point he has gone off the rails."
Lady Stacey added that Mr Ferguson cared for his mother and that she was now grieving for the loss of her son.
She added: "There is nothing that I can say and there is nothing that you can say or do that can take away the grief felt by Mrs Ferguson with regards to the loss of her son."