The 14-year-old stabbed Dawn McKenzie ten times on the head and body — as the force of one blow left the blade’s broken tip embedded in her skull.
He was originally charged with murdering Dawn, 34, but, at the High Court in Glasgow yesterday, he pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of culpable homicide. Prosecutor Alex Prentice QC said: “The victim and her husband Bryan treated the accused as their own.
“They were all due to go on holiday abroad together.”
The boy — who’d been described by pals as “quiet and likeable” — was just 13 when he repeatedly stabbed Dawn last June 24.
Stab scene ... the flats where Dawn was stabbed to death
And Mr Prentice told the court: “He was grounded and told he had to go to bed an hour earlier.”
Just days before the horrific stabbing, he also had his Xbox, mobile phone — which he used to stay in touch with his mum — and laptop confiscated.
But the court heard there had been nothing unusual about his behaviour on the day Dawn died.
Mr McKenzie left the couple’s house in Hamilton at 7.15pm and ruffled the boy’s hair as he left, saying: “See you later wee man.”
At 8.06pm, Dawn managed to call 999 and told the operator she’d been stabbed, shouting: “Mam, am I dying.”
Cops found the former nursery nurse as she lay dying, with a broken, blood-stained knife on the couch.
The boy was stopped by a police officer in the town at 8.25pm, who saw him with a cloth wrapped around his hand.
The cop asked: “What’s wrong with you wee man?” He replied: “I’ve just stabbed my carer.”
The court heard the boy told a psychiatrist he’d heard voices.
Lord Pentland deferred sentence on the teen until August to assess his danger to the public.
