Killer who stabbed teenager in the back before fleeing to London jailed for life

A man who knifed a teenager to death before hiding the murder weapon in the grounds of the King’s official residence in Edinburgh has been jailed for life.

Bailey Dowling was ordered to serve 15 years in jail before he is eligible to apply for release after murdering Lewis McCartney in a street attack in the city.

A judge told Dowling, 21, at the High Court in Edinburgh that his victim had “everything to live for” and his loss was devastating for family and friends.

Lord Matthews said Mr McCartney, 18, was “robbed” of the future that lay ahead of him following the fatal attack on him.

He told Dowling: “It is clear you came to Edinburgh for what you hoped would be an enjoyable time, and so it would have been but for the decisions you made.”

Londoner Dowling armed himself with a knife before he left a flat to meet a group, which included Mr McCartney, prior to the fatal violence erupting when he stabbed the teenager in the back.

Bailey Dowling was found guilty of murder at the High Court in Edinburgh Police Scotland

The judge told him: “Taking a knife into the street is never acceptable.”

He told Dowling that the 15-year punishment part of the life sentence imposed on him was shorter than it would have been had he reached the age of 25.

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

Before he left Edinburgh, he abandoned the murder weapon in the grounds of Holyrood Palace at the foot of the Royal Mile.

Dowling, who was aged 19 at the time of the attack, had denied murdering his victim during an earlier trial by striking him on the body with the knife and claimed he acted in self-defence after he was struck with a bottle.

But Dowling was convicted of the crime of murder and a further charge of unlawful possession of an offensive weapon

Following the verdict, advocate depute Alex Prentice KC said a statement was prepared by the victim’s family, which indicated the depth of feeling and strong, continuing sense of loss as a result of the tragic death.

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

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

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

Dowling claimed that he did not intend to harm the victim but was trying to get away after he was struck on the head with a bottle by another member of the group. 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 the 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 home, he looked panicked. She said: “The London guy said ‘I just stabbed that Lewis’.”

He had a knife with blood on it and was told to leave. Dowling disposed of the knife in the palace grounds before catching a bus to Glasgow and travelling to London Euston train station.

He went to his mother’s home before surrendering to police in London.

Dowling’s defence counsel, Mark Stewart KC, said he was a first offender. He told the court: “He did not intend to stab anybody. He accepts the verdict of the jury. He does not agree with the verdict of the jury.”

Co-accused, Benjamin Wilson, 21, of Burntisland, in Fife, was convicted of assaulting Dowling by striking him on the head with a bottle to his injury, on February 12, 2023, during the incident in Viewcraig Street.

He was ordered to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work under a two-year community payback order.