Teen who murdered young mum with 'Rambo' knife in Edinburgh in row over e-scooter has minimum sentence cut

A teenage killer who murdered a young mother in a row over an e-scooter has had his minimum jail term cut despite posing a high risk of further violent offending.

The 17-year-old youth repeatedly stabbed Danielle Davidson, 33, with a large Rambo-style knife during an assault in Constitution Street, in Edinburgh, that claimed the victim’s life.

The teenager, who was aged 16 at the time of the attack, pled guilty to committing the murder of the mother-of-one on May 18 in 2023 and was ordered to be detained without limit of time – the youth equivalent of a life sentence.

The sentencing judge, Lord Arthurson, ordered that he should serve an 18-year punishment part before he is eligible to apply for release on parole.

But following an appeal challenging the length of the minimum term imposed on him, judges at the Court of Criminal Appeal in Edinburgh reduced it to 14 years.

Lord Arthurson told him: “This was an appalling and cowardly attack on a vulnerable and defenceless young mother in a public street in broad daylight in full public view of witnesses.”

“You, having inflicted devastating wounds on the victim, sought to escape leaving her dying in the roadway. She was tragically in the wrong place at the wrong time, in close proximity to you while you were intoxicated by drugs and armed with a large, lethal bladed weapon,” he said.

The victim had agreed to meet the youth and went accompanied by a man but an argument broke out. The youth, who was wearing a black balaclava and arrived by scooter, punched the victim in the face and repeatedly stabbed her in the back.

The teenager went to a supermarket toilet and changed his clothes before contacting relatives and said: “I have done the crime, so I’ll do the time.”

The killer was involved in street level drug dealing since he was aged 13 or 14 and the Home Office accepted that he was a victim of modern slavery for the purposes of forced criminality.

Following his sentencing, lawyers acting for the youth raised an appeal challenging the length of the minimum jail term imposed on him, maintaining that it was “excessive”.

Lord Matthews, who heard the appeal with the Lord Justice Clerk and Lord Doherty, said: “While he is currently assessed as posing a high risk of further violent offending with a higher likelihood of causing serious harm, there is scope for him to engage in offence focussed work, which will enhance his prospects of rehabilitation.”

He said: “This was a shocking offence and the sentencing judge was quite correct to have regard to its nature. Nonetheless, we are satisfied that the punishment part he imposed was excessive and that he placed insufficient weight on the appellant’s age, his adverse childhood experiences, including years of criminal exploitation, and his prospects for rehabilitation.”

Lord Matthews said: “The sentence was more akin to that which might have been imposed on an adult offender.”

He said: “In the whole circumstances we quash the punishment part imposed by the sentencing judge and in its place substitute one of 14 years.”