Killer stabbed teenager in the back before hiding weapon at Holyrood Palace

A killer who stabbed a teenager in the back in a street attack in Edinburgh before hiding the murder weapon in the grounds of Holyrood Palace faces life in jail.

Bailey Dowling, 21, armed himself with a knife before he left a flat to meet Lewis McCartney, 18, and his friends before the violent incident.

Dowling left Edinburgh after the murder on February 12, 2023, at Viewcraig Street and fled south to his home city of London, where he handed himself in to police.

He denied murdering Mr McCartney by striking him on the body with a knife and claimed he acted in self-defence after he was struck with a bottle, but was found guilty of the offence by a majority verdict of a jury at the High Court in Edinburgh.

Dowling bowed his head in the dock as he was convicted of murder and unlawful possession of an offensive weapon.

The trial judge, Lord Matthews, told him: “In your case, there is only one sentence I can pass. It is one of life imprisonment.”

But the judge told the first offender that he would obtain a background report on him ahead of sentencing and said he was required to fix a punishment part he must serve before he can apply for parole.

Lord Matthews said: “Whether or not you are allowed parole will be a matter for the Parole Board in due course.”

Advocate depute Alex Prentice KC lodged a victim impact statement with the court from Mr McCartney’s family.

The prosecutor said it was obvious the victim was a much-loved brother and son and added: “The statement indicates the depth of feeling and strong, continuing sense of loss as a result of his death.”

The court heard that Dowling, then aged 19, from Thamesmead, in London, had travelled north to meet up with “a friend of a friend” and they had joined a woman at her flat in the Dumbiedykes area of Edinburgh, where the drug ketamine was consumed.

Mr McCartney also arrived at the flat with others, although they later left, and when they returned, Dowling went through to the kitchen and got a large knife before going to meet them outside.

Efforts were made to try and persuade him to leave the knife, but he said: “I am not going downstairs without it. They just said they robbed somebody.” He was later told there was no robbery.

During the subsequent attack on Mr McCartney, he delivered a single blow that penetrated to a depth of more than ten centimetres.

Dowling claimed he did not intend to harm the victim but was trying to get away after he was hit over the head with a bottle by another member of the group, which left him feeling unsteady on his feet.

He said: “I was dazed and confused after I was hit, and then I took out the knife.”

He disputed other evidence that he had a knife in his hand before he was struck with the bottle.

The occupant of the Dumbiedykes flat later told police that when Dowling returned to her flat, he looked panicked. She said: “The London guy said ‘I just stabbed that Lewis’.” She said he had a knife with blood on it.

Dowling was told to leave, and he disposed of the knife in the palace grounds before catching a bus to Glasgow and then travelling to London Euston train station, where he was met by a relative before he went to his mother’s home. He then surrendered to police in London.

Following his conviction for murder, Dowling, who was on bail, was remanded in custody.

Benjamin Wilson, 20, of Burntisland, in Fife, was also convicted of assaulting Dowling by striking him on the head with a bottle, causing injury, on February 12, 2023, during the incident at Viewcraig Street, in Edinburgh.