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Pregnant girl jailed for life after fatally stabbing boy while drunk and high at party

Conner Cowper was ‘tragically, simply in the wrong place at the wrong time’

Tim Wyatt
Friday 11 January 2019 12:10 GMT
Conner Cowper, 18, died from neck injuries
Conner Cowper, 18, died from neck injuries

A pregnant 17-year-old girl who stabbed a teenager to death in a “brutal, unprovoked and entirely murderous” attack has been jailed for at least 16 years.

Conner Cowper, 18, died from injuries after the girl plunged the blade into his neck during a party at a flat in Holytown, a village on the outskirts of Glasgow, last April.

The girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was drunk and high on cocaine at the time of the attack and later ran from the scene, her trial at Glasgow High Court heard last month.

After stabbing Mr Cowper, the girl fled the house party – effectively leaving the teenager to die, the trial heard. Officers found her nearby “laughing”.

The confrontation was sparked by Mr Cowper calling her a “stupid wee girl” after rumours had swept the party he was attracted to her but she had kissed someone else. The girl pleaded not guilty and claimed self-defence.

Sentencing her to detention for life, with at least 16 years in custody, judge Lord Arthurson, at Edinburgh High Court, said her attack on Mr Cowper was “was deliberate, brutal, unprovoked and entirely murderous”.

He said the girl had only just met Mr Cowper for the first time at the party. But after their short row she “buried a kitchen knife some 11cm, or 4in, into the neck of Conner Cowper, as a result of which catastrophic injury he died”.

The prosecution suggested the girl, who is thought to be among the youngest women ever convicted of murder in Scotland, enjoyed being the centre of attention and playing men off against each other.

The girl had already accumulated a lengthy criminal record before the house party, mostly because of violence, drugs and alcohol charges, but also possession and use of knives.

She was also expelled from secondary school in her first year after assaulting another student who had additional needs and uploading a film of the attack to social media.

However, Lord Arthurson conceded the teenager had suffered abuse and trauma and was “a vulnerable young woman”.

“You are in my view a highly dangerous and unstable individual, and Conner Cowper on 12 April 2018 was, tragically, simply in the wrong place at the wrong time – that is to say in your company when you were under the influence of drugs and alcohol and had access to a bladed weapon,” he said.

“It is very clear that the effects of your appalling criminal act are and will continue to be profound and enduring.”

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