I left notorious estate to escape knife violence – then my son was stabbed to death in a random attack, I’m heartbroken

A GRIEF-stricken mum has told how she moved her family from a notorious housing estate to protect them – only for her son to be killed by a stranger in a motiveless street attack.

Debbie Dowds, 47, left her hometown of Paisley in 2005 to raise her three children in North Ayrshire after escalating reports of knife crime on the Ferguslie Park estate.

But tragically in October 2021, her youngest Sean McKay, 23, was murdered in an unprovoked, ‘wicked’ assault, as he walked home from work.

The young dad was walking home when, armed with a knife, maniac Gavin McVey, 40, fatally stabbed him in the chest, in an ‘utterly senseless’ attack.

Mercy crews and the public rushed to help Sean but he tragically died at the bus stop.

He was just five minutes away his home he shared with his partner Chloe McCormick, 23, and 15-month-old Oscar George.

Last month, McVey was found unanimously guilty by a jury at Paisley High Court and was sentenced to 21 years in prison.

After the trial, Debbie revealed to the Scottish Sun she had previously relocated Sean and his two older sisters Simone, 28, and Samantha, 27, to nearby Stevenston when Sean was seven to escape knife violence.

She said: “We left Paisley to get away from all this.

“We came down to Ayrshire to take the kids away from trouble, we didn’t want them getting caught up in all of that.

“Then Sean and Chloe moved to Dalry when they knew they were having Oscar.

“I wish they never did, I wish they had still stayed with me.”

The labourer was dropped off at a nearby Lidl by Chloe’s dad, David, who runs the bathroom company where Sean worked.

But Chloe later received a message from his friend John to say he had seen somebody approach Sean shouting when he was on a video call to him.

She said: “I couldn’t get a hold of Sean, then I went up the stairs to see blue lights.”

CID delivered the sad news to Debbie first, then sister Sam who all raced to the scene with stepdad John.

Chloe – who was caught behind the cordon – told how police told her four times before she accepted Sean was gone.

She added: “Oscar and I moved in with Debbie that night, we only went back to empty it.”

And his dad Glenn, 49, had been waiting by the phone in Falkirk for Sean to ring him for a chat at 9.30pm – like he did most nights.

He said: “We arranged to chat at lunchtime that day. When he never rang, I knew something was wrong.”

The heartbroken family said they are now in limbo and are “just existing” since the death of their “funny and loving” Sean.

Debbie resigned from her job as a nursing auxiliary due to ill health as she takes on the co-parenting of young Oscar, now aged three, and supports Chloe who now suffers from severe anxiety.

The grandmother described how raising the tot without his doting father “kills her” inside.

She said: “It just broke me down the day when he asked to go with his daddy.

“Every night it kills me that this wee boy will not have his father.”

And brave Chloe said she is living her “worst nightmare.”

She added: “He only got to have the first of everything with Oscar. Birthday, Christmas, Father’s Day.

“I always said with Sean, even if we broke up, I wanted him to be in Oscar’s life as his dad.

“I never wanted them to be separate and now I have no choice.”

MANIAC’S VILE INSULT

EVIL Gavin McVey stuck his middle finger up at his victim’s shattered relatives as he was sentenced to 21 years for murder.

Victim Sean McKay’s sister Samantha, 27, told how the sicko chuckled in the dock before making the vile gesture.

She said: “He laughed when he was found guilty. He gave us the finger as they led him away.”

Samantha watched the trial with 30 of Sean’s friends and family. She added: “We don’t expect an apology — we are just relieved he’s behind bars.”

PS4 LINK FOR SON, 3

SEAN McKay’s mum said the keen gamer’s console has remained untouched since his killing — but his young son may be the first to play it again.

Debbie Dowds said she still has his beloved PlayStation 4 for his boy Oscar George, now three.

She said: “I’ve saved his console but haven’t been able to switch it on.
“I’m hoping Oscar will be able to play it when he’s a bit older. It will be a connection to his dad.

“Sean loved playing his PlayStation and being on the mic with his pals.”