A teenager has denied murdering the Aberdeen schoolboy Bailey Gwynne.
The 16-year-old – who cannot be named for legal reasons – appeared at the high court in Glasgow on Tuesday morning, where his lawyer entered a guilty plea to the reduced allegation of culpable homicide.
But Alex Prentice QC, prosecuting, said: “The Crown declines to accept that offer of guilty to the culpable homicide charge and will proceed to the murder charge.”
He will now face a charge of murdering Bailey, also 16, at Cults Academy on 28 October last year, which he denies. The teenager wore a baggy grey jumper and jeans at the court on Tuesday.
The judge, Lady Scott, set the murder trial, which could last up to five days, to start on 1 March. The hearing was told that as many as 16 child witnesses could be called to give evidence.
The teenager faces two other charges, which he also denies: of having had knives or “bladed instruments”, and two knuckledusters, at a school “without reasonable excuse or lawful authority”. These two offences are alleged to have occurred on “various occasions” between 1 August 2013 and the day of the alleged murder.
