IT was just another day for teenager Euan Craig as he set off for school having said goodbye to his parents.

Euan lived with them and his younger sister in Cardonald in the south west of Glasgow and was a pupil at nearby Rosshall Academy.

He was a bright young lad with ambitions to be an architect when he left school.

Later that morning on Wednesday, May 23, 2012, the 14-year-old headed for the school gym for a PE lesson.

Prior to the start of the class Euan and a few pals had been messing about with a soft ball which accidentally hit another boy on the side of the face.

The pupil did not see the funny side and punched Euan five times on the head and walked off.

Euan then sat down on a nearby bench where he suddenly collapsed and lost consciousness.

An ambulance was called by a teacher which then took him to the nearby Southern General Hospital. However, Euan never regained consciousness and was pronounced dead the following day.

Rosshall Academy and its 1100 pupils were left in shock by the news with students offered counselling.

The school was relatively new having been formed in 1999 with the merger of Penilee and Crookston Castle secondaries.

Rosshall headteacher Alison Mitchell said at the time: “The whole school community obviously feels a deep sense of grief and our thoughts are with his family at this devastating time. We are doing everything we can to support all our young people and staff.”

One mum speaking outside the school gates added: “It’s terrible — you don’t expect this sort of thing to happen at school. You think your children are safe when they are in school.

“I can’t imagine what the family are going through. My thoughts are with them.”

On the day of his death, fellow third year pupil Darren Taylor had appeared at Glasgow Sheriff Court charged with assault to severe injury and the danger of life and given bail.

The 14-year-old then appeared at the High Court in Glasgow in October that year where his plea to a charge of culpable homicide was accepted.

Because of Taylor’s age his name could not be made public at the time, though everyone who attended court was aware of his identity.

Euan’s parents Richard and Ann were there to finally hear what happened to their son in the school gym that day.

Meanwhile Taylor, wearing a shirt and tie, sat in the dock with his head bowed for much of the evidence.

The prosecutor, advocate depute John Scullion, said both teenagers were third year pupils at Rosshall but not friends.

It emerged that both boys had been due to go to separate PE classes in adjoining gym halls.

At 10.55am, they went to the changing rooms with other pupils where they changed into gym clothes.

Euan and his pals began playing with the soft sponge ball normally used for shot-putting practice.

He picked up the ball and threw it at a friend.

It missed and hit Taylor, who was wearing glasses.

Mr Scullion told the court that Euan and his pals had been “messing around and having fun”.

Taylor however reacted angrily towards Euan, shouting: “What the f*** are you doing?”

Euan apologised saying he had meant the sponge shot to hit his friend.

Taylor then punched Euan repeatedly to the left side of his head.

During the attack, Euan continued to apologise, saying: “Sorry, I didn’t mean it, it was an accident.”

When Taylor stopped and walked out of the gym hall, Euan went to sit with other pupils before slumping forward as he suffered a seizure. A teacher tried to help him, but he did not respond.

It was then Euan was taken to the Southern General where a CT scan found extensive bleeding on the brain and he was pronounced dead the following day.

Mr Scullion told the court the blow “need not have been hugely powerful”, but forceful enough to cause a “rotation of the head with such unpredictable and devastating consequences”.

He added that Euan’s death had a “devastating impact” on his family.

Ian Duguid QC, defending, said that the incident was catastrophic, and his client had since displayed “huge remorse”.

He added: “He cannot remember acting in such a way before. This was an event that is entirely out of character.

“He comes from a background and a family where there are comparatively high standards of behaviour and expectations of achievement.”

A school report said Taylor was generally well behaved and “quiet or reserved”.

Taylor was sentenced three weeks later at the High Court in Edinburgh by Lord Bracadale.

The judge said the consequences of the attack on Euan were catastrophic and the assault had been unnecessary.

Lord Bracadale added: “By all accounts, he [Euan] was a popular and well-rounded boy. He had his whole life ahead of him.

“His prospects were good, and he had every expectation of going on to leave school, enter higher education and graduate to a worthwhile career.

“He came from a close-knit family and was plainly the apple of the eye of each of his father and mother. He was close to his sister.

“It is clear from a very full victim impact statement placed before me that his untimely death has had a profound effect on the family, who are going to have to live with this immeasurable loss.

‘I have come to the view that the sustained nature of the assault, the circumstances in which it was committed and the devastating consequences which flowed from it combine to indicate that, despite your age, the only appropriate disposal is a custodial one.”

Lord Bracadale told Taylor he would be locked up for three-and-a-half years.

Euan’s parents were dismayed at the length of the sentence and called on prosecutors to appeal on their behalf.

But they were told in December that there would be no appeal as the term was not considered “unduly lenient”.

In an interview after the case ended Richard, a watch commander with Strathclyde Fire and Rescue, said: “It was just another day but within a few hours, in just a few seconds, all our lives, our hopes, were destroyed.

“He was a kind boy. A nice boy.

“A few months before he was killed, an old man fell in the street and hurt himself.

“Euan called the ambulance and stayed with him until they came. But he never said a word about it. We only found out because the man contacted the school because he’d recognised Euan’s uniform.

“The school presented Euan with a special citizenship award for what he’d done.

“That tells you everything you need to know about the boy I am so proud to call my son.”

After his death Euan’s family had agreed to donate his organs, saving five lives in transplants including that of a young girl.

In 2014 they were told that Taylor was due to be released after serving just 20 months in a residential school.

However, given that he was now 16, it meant his name could finally be made public.

Under his parole conditions Taylor was banned from entering Rosshall Academy.

Other restrictions included a ban on speaking to any of Euan’s family or attempting to contact them.

In a second interview Euan’s dad spoke about receiving a letter informing the family about Taylor’s early release.

Richard revealed he’d dreaded breaking the news to his wife and daughter.

He added: “When I got the letter, I felt sick even before I opened it.

“I knew it meant Taylor would be getting out soon.

“But when I read he was being released after just 20 months, I couldn’t tell my wife and daughter for days. How could I tell them our Euan’s life wasn’t even worth two years in jail? “But I knew I had to warn them. I couldn’t risk any of us walking into our son’s killer on the street.

“When I eventually did break the news, we held each other and cried.”

Richard also revealed that he and Ann had launched a charity in their son’s memory, the Euan Craig Foundation, to raise funds to support children and help prevent further violence.

He then added: “Almost two-and-a-half years after Euan’s death, there are still many unanswered questions.

“Every parent needs to know how it was possible for Euan to be battered to death in school because if it happened to our son, it could happen to their child.”