11
1
A teenager caught wielding a knife at school has been handed community service instead of jail time, throwing Scotland's knife crackdown into chaos.
The schoolboy was filmed with the blade's handle sticking out of his trousers during a brawl at Turriff Academy in Aberdeenshire.
The 16-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was in possession of the blade just 25 miles away from where schoolboy Bailey Gwynne was stabbed to death last year.
But the culprit walked away with community service and a supervision order from Banff Sheriff Court despite the law allowing a prison sentence of up to a year.
The Scottish Tories said the sentence showed the SNP government had once again failed to live up to its pledge to get tough on crime.
The Turriff incident happened in April 2015 but only came to light in April this year when a 30-second video of the fight emerged online.