Identity of teen thug who murdered mum on tram tracks revealed as knifeman turns 18

Scottish Sun

21 hours ago

One relative described the victim as "my beautiful Danielle"
KILLER UNMASKED Identity of teen thug who murdered mum on tram tracks revealed as knifeman turns 18
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A TEENAGE murderer who knifed a mum to death after a row over an e-scooter can today be unmasked by The Scottish Sun on Sunday.
Ryan Heath was just 16 when he repeatedly plunged a Rambo-style blade into Danielle Davidson, 33.
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Danielle Davidson, 33, from Edinburgh, was murdered by teen thug Ryan Heath
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Danielle Davidson was killed on tram tracks in Edinburgh
The maniac — who was a knife offender from the age of 11 — could not be named when he was caged for 18 years last December, because he was still 17 at the time.
But the monster's face can finally be shown two years after the horror attack on tram lines in Edinburgh's Leith.
And we can also reveal that Heath's deceased mother was a friend of mum-of-one Danielle.
Just eight days before the senseless slaying, Heath had been put on a supervision order by the Children's Reporter for repeated thuggish behaviour.
The balaclava-clad fiend argued with Danielle's pal Conlan Carr over the scooter before turning and knifing her.
He stabbed her four times, inflicting blows to her head and body in the broad daylight horror in May 2023.
The fatal wound went through Danielle's back, piercing her lung. She was rushed to hospital but could not be saved.
Heath initially claimed self defence but pleaded guilty to murder after harrowing CCTV of the killing was played to the High Court in Edinburgh.
Prosecutor John McElroy KC said at last November's hearing: 'She shouted, 'I have been stabbed,' before collapsing on the tram track.'
The footage also showed Heath entering a women's toilet in Tesco to change his clothes after the attack.
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He later told his aunt and uncle: 'I have done the crime, so I will do the time.'
It emerged in court that he was charged with knife possession at 11 and had also been involved in drug dealing from the age of 13 as a 'victim of modern slavery'.
Last night Tory shadow justice secretary Liam Kerr said:
"The killer already had a lengthy rap sheet for drugs and thuggery.
"He wore a balaclava, carried a cruel blade and stabbed his victim several times.
"The public needed protection from Heath, unmasked.
"People will rightly question whether the reasons that teenagers are granted anonymity in court apply in this harrowing case."
Heath's lawyer Iain McSporran KC told the court: 'She was an entirely innocent victim in this dreadful crime.'
Jailing him at the High Court in Glasgow last December, Judge Lord Arthurson said: 'This was an appalling and cowardly attack on a vulnerable and defenceless young mother.
'She was in the wrong place at the wrong time while you were intoxicated by drugs and armed with a large, lethal bladed weapon.'
We told in March how the 18-year sentence imposed by Lord Arthurson was reduced to 14 years on appeal.
Lawyers for Heath successfully argued that the punishment breached guidelines to encourage more lenient sentences for the under-25s.
Judges at the Court of Criminal Appeal agreed — despite calling the offence 'shocking'. Lord Matthews ruled: 'The sentence was more akin to that which might have been imposed on an adult offender.'
After her death, Danielle's cousin John Davidson posted on social media: ' My beautiful Danielle. I am broken.'