Knife murderer Caleb Ferguson was caught driving while he was 20 times over the cocaine limit and with a similar weapon just months before killing his rival.
The teenage killer stabbed Cameron Rae, 20, to death in a Perth city centre flat and was convicted of murder at the High Court in Edinburgh earlier this month. Ferguson, who was remanded in custody and faces life imprisonment for the murder, was back in court this week to face sentence for earlier offences.
He admitted having a knife in Crammond Place, Perth, on November 6, 2022, and driving a black BMW on the M90 motorway while he had a huge level of cocaine in his system a month later.
Sheriff Jennifer Bain KC told Ferguson: “Given you have been remanded in custody, I have no option but to impose a sentence of imprisonment.”
He was jailed for 163 days for the knife offence and fined £750 for the drug-driving charge. The sheriff ordered “no time to pay,” meaning the fine was converted into a further 28 days prison time. He was also banned from driving for 18 months.
The sheriff noted the “extremely high reading” of drugs in his system. Ferguson was behind the wheel with 200 mics of cocaine per litre of blood. The permitted drug-driving limit is 10 mics. He pled guilty to the offences earlier this year, but sentence was deferred pending the outcome of the murder trial, in which the jury found Ferguson guilty.
Prosecutors accepted not guilty pleas to allegations he was also found in possession of cocaine and cannabis. Ferguson, now 20, of Bute Drive, Perth, will return to the high court for sentencing on the murder charge next month.
He was told by judge Lord Scott that he should expect to serve a “substantial period” before he is even eligible for parole. Ferguson admitted killing Mr Rae, but denied murdering him, and the trial heard he stabbed his victim three times before fleeing the flat and alerting the authorities.
Police arrived to find Mr Rae with unsurvivable injuries. He died before he could be moved out of the block. Mr Rae’s mum Kerry Burgess said after the murder trial: “Nothing will ever be enough in my eyes. My boy is never coming home, ever.”
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