Boy, 14, guilty of murdering Ava, 12, in video row
A CAnnABIS-smoking boy of 14 became one of Britain’s youngest convicted murderers yesterday after being found guilty of stabbing a 12-year-old girl at a Christmas lights switch-on.
Ava white was out with friends at the event in liverpool when she confronted the killer for filming her on his phone.
The schoolgirl was slashed in the neck with a three-inch flick knife by the teenager, known only as Boy A because of his age. Ava’s mother leanne sobbed amid shouts of ‘yes’ and ‘thank you’ from around 20 relatives in the gallery at liverpool Crown Court after jurors took just two hours and eight minutes to reach the guilty verdict.
The boy, watching from a secure unit by video link, slumped and put his head in his hands. He claimed he acted in self-defence. Judge Mrs Justice Yip warned Ava’s family – who were last night said to be ‘still completely devastated’ – that whatever sentence she passes at a later hearing in July would ‘seem far too short’ because it had to ‘reflect the age of the defendant’.
The two-week trial heard Ava died following a ‘chance’ confrontation at liverpool One shopping centre on november 25.
Ava was with friends aged 11 to 15, swigging vodka from water bottles, joking around and dancing. They were moved on by a security guard before encountering the defendant, who was with three friends, the court heard. Prosecutor Charlotte newell QC said the defendant’s group filmed Ava ‘messing around’ but the girl demanded they delete the Snapchat videos.
Boy A, who had been carrying the knife because he ‘wanted to look big’, lashed out at Ava in an attack lasting just a second or two.
At first Ava’s friends thought she had been punched, not realising she had been stabbed until she ‘went pale’. She was taken to Alder Hey children’s hospital but died from cardiac arrest due to blood loss.
After the attack, Ava’s friends saw the boy laugh before he ran off.
CCTv showed him going into a shop and arranging his hair for a selfie. Miss newell said: ‘His behaviour [was] of someone who is, at best, utterly unconcerned, at worst, rather
‘Rather pleased with himself’
pleased with himself.’ The court heard Boy A threw away his knife, coat and mobile phone. All were later found.
He was arrested within 90 minutes of the stabbing but said he had been playing a video game at a friend’s house. He later admitted wielding the knife but claimed it was in self-defence.
During questioning, the boy told one police officer ‘shut up you nonce’. He referred to ‘smoking weed’ in part of an interview not read to the jury – and also replied with answers such as ‘I’m not bothered’.
The boy denied murder and manslaughter but admitted possessing an offensive weapon. Britain’s youngest killers are Jon venables and robert Thompson, both ten when they murdered James Bulger in liverpool in 1993.