Conner’s killer can be named

One of Britain’s youngest female killers - who murdered a teenager in Holytown while she was pregnant and high on cocaine - can now be named.
Jolene Doherty was just 17 when she killed Conner Cowper last April. Pic: SWNSJolene Doherty was just 17 when she killed Conner Cowper last April. Pic: SWNS
Jolene Doherty was just 17 when she killed Conner Cowper last April. Pic: SWNS

Jolene Doherty was just 17 when she stabbed Conner Cowper (18) in the neck with a kitchen knife at a house party last April and left him to bleed to death.

She could not be named during her trial at the High Court in Glasgow last year, due to her age.

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But as she celebrates her birthday behind bars today (Monday), she can now be identified as statutory anonymity in Scotland now falls away at 18.

Doherty had a reputation for violence from the age of 11 when she was filmed punching an autistic boy who attended the same school as her.

She was kicked out of the secondary school following the attack in 2013, which was shared widely on Youtube and Facebook at the time.

At her sentencing hearing, the High Court in Edinburgh was told Doherty had a history of violence including possession of knives and had left home aged 15.

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Doherty had met Conner only hours before she killed him on April 14, 2018.

At her trial, it was said that she had tried to play him off against another man, but lost her rag when Conner called her a “stupid wee girl”.

She was jailed for life with a minimum term of 16 years at the High Court in Edinburgh on January 10.

Doherty’s mother, Janet Hunter, was approached for comment but her partner said the family would not be speaking publicly.