Three teenagers who murdered a 16-year-old boy at a beach in North Ayrshire have been given life sentences.
In June, a 15-year-old boy, who can’t be named for legal reasons, and co-accused Jay Stewart, 18, stood trial accused of killing Kayden Moy at Irvine Beach on May 17, 2025.
Cole Turley, 18, had previously pleaded guilty to the murder before the trial started at the High Court in Glasgow.
Stewart and the 15-year-old, while acting with Turley, pursued Kayden and caused him to fall to the ground.
Police ScotlandTurley fatally stabbed Kayden amid a dispute between rival gangs from East Kilbride, Lanarkshire.
The three teens, members of the Murray Boys gang, fled the busy beach. They went on to create a rap song mocking Kayden.
Kayden was an amateur footballer who played for Busby AFC and part of the rival Himshie gang.
Turley also acted out the vicious murder on the couch of a friend whose flat was used as a hideout.
Stewart was subject to a community payback order at the time for possession of a machete, which was imposed four days before the murder. His other previous conviction was a breach of the peace with a knife.
Crown OfficeThe court heard that Stewart and the other teenager had previous ill will and malice towards him.
Stewart and the 15-year-old had lodged a special defence of incrimination against Turley.
But the jury returned a unanimous verdict of murder for Stewart, and a majority verdict of murder for the 15-year-old at the High Court in Glasgow last month.
Jurors had determined the duo acted alongside Turley when committing the murder.
At the High Court in Glasgow on Tuesday, Stewart was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum of 16 years.
Turley was also jailed for life with a minimum of 16 years. And the 15-year-old was sentenced to life with a minimum of 14 years – which will start in secure accommodation until he is 19.
Judge Lord Scott told them: “Three young people travelled to Irvine Beach armed with the intent on reprisal for some slight hurt caused to someone associated with your group. Two of you took weapons.
“In the case of Cole Turley, a knife was taken which was used to stab and murder.
“Kayden Moy’s death was pointless and unnecessary.
“The victim could have been anyone in the group. Kayden was the one who slipped and fell.
“You did not care whether he lived or died and celebrated what you did.
“Despite claims of intoxication, you had the presence of mind in the aftermath to conceal your involvement in the appalling crime, consistent with this being a planned attack. The sentence for murder is a life sentence.”
Rival gangs
Kayden and a group of friends went to Irvine Beach on the afternoon of May 17.
Later that day, one of Kayden’s friends attacked an associate of the Murray Boys. Jurors heard that Kayden had stepped in to break it up.
After hearing about the attack, Turley, Stewart and the 15-year-old made their way from East Kilbride to Irvine Beach armed with weapons.
They went on to throw rocks at the rival group. Kayden and two friends, who were unarmed, confronted them.
Turley brandished a large lockback knife while Stewart held a police-style extendable baton.
One of Kayden’s friends, who gave evidence, told the pair to get rid of their weapons and offered to “box” them in a fist fight.
Kayden and his friends then ran, but he slipped.
Turley plunged the blade into the teenager twice – on the body and thigh – before fleeing.
Stewart brandished his baton and was heard to shout: “Murray Boys”. He then told a witness at the scene: “He f***ing deserved it.”
Kayden hobbled down from the sand dune where the stabbing took place to the beach below.
His friend recalled: “I remember blood going down Kayden’s leg and Kayden going really white and his eyes started to close.”
Another friend told the court that Kayden fell unconscious and his lips turned blue.
He was given first aid by a woman at the beach before emergency crews took over.
He was taken to hospital by ambulance, but Kayden suffered a second cardiac arrest and died at 11.33pm.
The cause of death was “stab wound to the trunk”.
‘One-nil’
After running from the scene, Turley stuck the knife into the grass and was overheard boasting that he “just done him”.
Turley also shouted: “One-nil.”
CCTV showed the trio running down a road near the beach – stopping momentarily to embrace each other.
They got a taxi to the flat of Turley’s 19-year-old friend in East Kilbride.
The attackers barged past him, locked him inside and took his mobile phone while they asked: “Is he dead? Is he dead?”
On being told that Kayden was still alive, the witness told jurors that the teenagers made up a rap song about their victim.
“They were singing Kayden bop, Kayden bop – saying they stabbed him,” the 19-year-old witness told the court.
“I thought it was f***ing sick.
“They were ecstatic, over the moon, I have never seen people as happy in my life.”
The witness said that the 15-year-old told him that he gave the murder weapon to Turley before the stabbing.
Turley hid the lock-back knife inside a hole he cut in the man’s divan bed while Stewart’s baton was stored under a chair in the living room.
A kitchen knife, which contained the 15-year-old’s DNA, was recovered from a freezer in the 19-year-old’s home.
The witness made two 999 calls to report that those responsible for Kayden’s death were at his home.
By the time armed police arrived, the attackers had escaped from a first-floor window.
When police found the 15-year-old at his home, he was initially treated as a witness.
He claimed that they were not in a feud with Kayden and “did not see” the stabbing as he was “walking away” from the incident.
He claimed he had no knowledge that Turley and Stewart had weapons. He was charged with murder over two weeks later.
‘Disbelief’
Mark Stewart KC, defending Turley, said: “He struggles to even comprehend the consequences of his actions. He is in full disbelief.
“Cole Turley did not intend to kill Kayden Moy, did not plan to kill Kayden Moy, and did not want to kill Kayden Moy, but accepts that he did.
“Having a knife and engaging in that confrontation and using it resulted in the death.
“He knows the damage and pain he has done. He cannot contemplate that it will always be there.”
Donald Findlay KC, defending Stewart, said: “Mr Stewart played no active part in the death of Kayden Moy.
“He had no active contemplation that anyone should suffer a severe injury or loss of their life.
“He regrets what happened.”
Ian Duguid KC, defending the 15-year-old, said: “My client feels that his life has been ruined. He appreciates that there has been a loss of life for which he bears responsibility.”
Follow STV News on WhatsApp
Scan the QR code on your mobile device for all the latest news from around the country
