A man has pleaded guilty to killing Johnstone man Steven Quail at the High Court in Glasgow, earlier today.
Darren O’Neill, who lived in the same street as Mr Quail, Greenend Avenue, Johnstone, stabbed his victim 25 times.
In the early hours of Saturday 25th February 2017, the court heard that a neighbour reported hearing ‘banging and rowdiness’ coming from Steven Quail’s flat. Later at around 2am, O’Neill’s girlfriend Keri McPhee awoke from her sleep to find Mr O’Neill at the side of her bed where he claimed that he had ‘stabbed a guy’.
O’Neill admitted to his girlfriend that the man he attacked was Mr Quail, knowing to the killer as Quaily.
Prosecutor Jo McDonald said: “He told her [girlfriend Keri McPhee] that Quaily wanted to see their daughter’s computer tablet and that he was ‘trying to take [his daughters] tablet’.”
O’Neill claimed that he thought he had stabbed Mr Quail about 10 times but there was in fact 25 stab wounds found on the victim’s body. The court heard that some of the injuries suggested ‘severe force’ may have been used.
Darren O’Neill. Photo Credit: Facebook
He also text a friend Stephen Coutts claiming it was an “emergency”.
O’Neill then turned up at his door and told him: “I need to speak to you – something happened last night and I ended up killing somebody.”
He was described as “calm” when he spoke to Mr Coutts. O’Neill claimed he had stabbed Mr Quail “about ten times”.
Police initially spoke with O’Neill days later as they tried to find a suspect and lied to officers he had been at home at the time but admitted he knew Mr Quail.
DNA later linked him to the killing, with officers also discovering the phone he used to text his friend Mr Coutts.
The case was supposed to go to trial but Mr O’Neill changed his plea at the last minute and admitted he was guilty of murder. He will be sentenced later this month after Judge Lady Scott deferred for reports.