The teenager who killed “gentle giant” schoolboy Bailey Gwynne in a row over biscuits has been locked up for nine years.
The 16-year-old – who cannot be named for legal reasons – was told he would be detained at a young offenders institution following a hearing at the High Court in Edinburgh yesterday.
The Press and Journal has learned that he could be free within five years.
And it is understood he will not appeal against his sentence and has “accepted his punishment”.
The youth, who was originally charged with murder, was convicted last month of the culpable homicide of fellow pupil Bailey, who was also 16.
He stabbed the youngster once through the heart during a fight at Aberdeen’s Cults Academy in October.
The teenager used a knife bought from internet retailer Amazon.
Bailey, who was in fifth year and dreamed of joining the Royal Marines, died within minutes of being stabbed.
Judge Lady Stacey also ordered the boy to be supervised for two years following his release from custody.
She told him: “If you had not carried a knife, the exchange of insults between you and Bailey Gwynne would have led at worst to a fist fight – and certainly not the loss of his life.”
At his trial at the High Court in Aberdeen last month, Bailey’s killer admitted responsibility for his death but denied murder
He claimed that he did not mean to kill him.
Over four days of evidence, the jury heard that a row had escalated into violence after insults were traded between the killer and his victim.
The killer told police that Bailey had been talking to some boys outside toilets in the school and was sharing a packet of biscuits with them.
However, Bailey refused to give one boy a second biscuit, telling him: “You don’t want to get any fatter.”
The killer then told Bailey: “Just like your mum.”
Bailey then reacted and a scuffle then broke out between the pair.
The court heard evidence from four teenagers who witnessed the incident.
Two had seen Bailey, who was 6ft 1in, holding his 5ft 8in killer in a headlock.
The court heard the smaller boy reacted to by thrusting a blade towards him.
A teacher broke up the confrontation and marched the youths towards the head teacher’s office.
But Bailey collapsed after a minute. His heart stopped beating before medics took him to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary.
The blade of the knife had sliced Bailey’s chest, cutting between two ribs and puncturing the left ventricle of his heart.
The trial heard that a laptop used by the killer had revealed an internet search for “how to get rid of someone annoying”.
However, Police Scotland computer expert Charles Bruce said that he did not know what results the search brought up.
The boy also used the search expressions “Aberdeen stabbings” and “difference between a homicide and a murder”.
Another teenage witness told the court that he had seen the killer with a knife “maybe 25 times” before the fatal stabbing.
He admitted he regularly carried it with him and told detectives he had brought knuckle dusters for £10 and the knife for £40 from Amazon.
When he was told he was being charged with murder he broke down and told police: “But I tried to save him.”
Jurors spent just one hour and 40 minutes considering their verdict.
They convicted the youngster of culpable homicide and two charges of weapon possession.
Sentence was deferred until yesterday for background reports.
Lady Stacey said she had no option but to impose a custodial sentence.
She detained him for one year each on the weapon possession charges, these terms will run concurrently with each other and consecutively to the eight-year sentence for culpable homicide.
Last month, Bailey’s mum Kate spoke out for the first time since the 16-year-old was convicted of killing him.
She said that despite the youth’s conviction for culpable homicide “nothing will give us back what has been taken”.
She added that Bailey’s family would always be “immensely proud” of him and that it had been a “true blessing and a privilege” to have him in their lives.
