I just stabbed somebody, boy told 999 call handler

A BOY accused of fatally stabbing teenager Josh Hall sent or received 75 messages on his phone immediately after the attack, a jury was told yesterday.

“The defendant used the Snapchat app to say to his girlfriend at 1.24pm that day, ‘Babe, I’m going to prison’,” alleged prosecutor James Dawes QC.

“She replied ‘Why, what are you on about?’”

Mr Dawes told Gloucester Crown Court: “He also sent messages to family and other people. He received a message at 1.35pm which stated, ‘That helicopter is looking for you.’”

Mr Dawes said the defendant, who was 15 at the time, then made a voice call to 112 (the emergency services) which lasted for almost two minutes.

The phone call was played to the jury. The defendant told the call handler: “I have just stabbed somebody. I didn’t mean to do it.”

The youth, now 16, denies murdering Josh on April 16 this year at a sports ground in Cam, near Dursley.

The prosecution say Josh suffered six stab wounds, including the fatal one which severed the main artery to his heart.

Mr Dawes told the jury there were other knife ‘swipes’ at Josh which cut his clothing but did not penetrate his skin.

He said that at the time of the boy’s call to the emergency services he admitted stabbing Josh but said he did not know why he had done it.

But the boy changed his story when he gave a prepared statement after being charged with murder and he said that he had acted in self defence, said the prosecutor.

The entire attack lasted two minutes, and the alleged killer was arrested 30 minutes later.

The youth denies murdering the 17-year-old and the trial continues.