Scots fugitive jailed for knifing cousin Billy Jo Bates after international manhunt

A Scots fugitive has been jailed for knifing his cousin to death then fleeing to Europe in a bid to escape justice. Dean Ferguson stabbed childhood friend and second cousin Billy Jo Bates in the chest after a violent altercation in the Milton area of Glasgow on November 18, 2018.The 30-year-old, from Glasgow, has now been sentenced at the High Court in Glasgow after pleading guilty to culpable homicide.

He was caged for six years and four months.After the incident, he fled to the Netherlands in a bid to evade justice which sparked an international manhunt.He was eventually tracked down and extradited back to Scotland in May 2022, more than three years after killing the 28-year-old.The court heard Ferguson was linked to the killing after police infiltrated messages on the EncroChat communication network, including one boasting how he had "f****d off" out of the country.Prosecutors said the messages connected Ferguson to the crime and identified him as the assailant.At an earlier hearing, prosecutor John Keenan KC said there had been "no history of animosity" between the men and the exact details of the killing "cannot be determined".

Ferguson was identified as a "potential suspect" when he ended up at Glasgow Royal Infirmary with a head injury around the same time as Billy Jo, who sustained a number of injuries including a fatal deep stab wound to the chest.

Detectives then began to trawl through CCTV to try and discover what happened. Footage showed Ferguson, the victim and another man going to a flat in the city's Maryhill early on November 18.Ferguson had been described as "angry and agitated" while there.The men all left - Billy Jo came back to collect his phone and told a witness that he had "fallen out" with