Killer who boasted ‘I’ll be 45 when I get out’ dies in prison aged 42

Callum Tole shouted, ‘Happy days. I’m still alive,’ after he was told he would spend the next 18 years in prison

A killer who boasted “I’ll only be 45 when I get out” in front of his victim’s grieving family has died in prison aged 42.

Callum Tole stabbed grandfather Ronnie Fraser, 44, to death in a Dundee flat over a row about a packet of cigarettes in 2011.

As he was led away to his cell after being sentenced for the crime, Tole, then 30, shouted back: “Get a grip man – happy days.

“I’m still alive. Eighteen years, that’ll do for me. I’ll only be 45 when I get out.”

The remark was heard by the victim’s daughter, sister and other relatives sitting in court after they burst into tears of joy as the unanimous guilty verdict was announced in 2012, more than a decade ago. It is thought he would have actually been 47 before being considered eligible for parole.

Tole was in prison in HMP Shotts in North Lanarkshire, Scotland (PA Archive)

But drug addict Tole died at University Hospital Monklands in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, last week after paramedics were called to HMP Shotts.

A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “On Tuesday, 26 November, 2024, we received a report of the death of a 42-year-old man within University Hospital Monklands, Airdrie. He had been taken to hospital from HMP Shotts.

“There are no suspicious circumstances.”

After his death, a Scottish Prison Service spokesperson said: “Every death, whether in prison custody or in our communities, is a tragedy for all those who knew and supported the individual.

“Following the death of someone in our care, Police Scotland is advised, and the matter is reported to the Procurator Fiscal. Fatal accident inquiries are held in due course.”

At his trial Tole had claimed his Chinese takeaway may have been spiked with drugs as he initially lodged a defence of “automatism”, according to the Daily Record, claiming he was not in control of his actions.

Violence broke out after Tole, high on drugs, pestered Mr Fraser repeatedly for cigarettes. Tole was left bleeding after an initial brawl.

The jury at Livingston High Court heard Tole then went into his girlfriend’s flat, grabbed a seven-inch kitchen knife, then went back into the hall and stabbed Mr Fraser in the heart.

Mr Fraser’s sister Karen Beattie read a statement from the family outside court after Tole was sentenced to life with a minimum of 18 years for murder.

She said: “This was a premeditated murder which significantly impacted on all of our families’ lives.

“It was a cold, calculated and brutal act by a cowardly individual who, whilst under the influence of drugs, violently and fatally attacked and murdered Ronald.”