Boy, 16, found not guilty of murder and manslaughter of Aria Thorpe, nine, stabbed to death with 21cm knife
A 16-year-old boy has been found not guilty of the murder and manslaughter of nine-year-old Aria Thorpe.
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The schoolgirl died from a stab wound to her chest at her home in Weston-super-Mare in December last year.
The teenager - who can't be identified because of his age - claimed it was an accident while they were messing around with a 21cm knife.
After the incident, the boy left Aria’s home and went to a nearby railway station – where he told a group of children that her death was an “accident”.
On Thursday, the teen was cleared of both charges by a jury at Bristol Crown Court.
The court heard he had picked up a knife from the kitchen of Aria’s home and went into the lounge, where she was sitting on the sofa, to “scare” her.
The boy demonstrated moving the weapon in a ninja-style way before jabbing it towards Aria as if he was fencing.
He said the knife accidentally went into Aria, causing the fatal injury.
'Panicked'
He told the jury: “Aria stood up and I was waving around the knife.
“Then at some point I decided that I was going to try to make her flinch and scare her, to get a reaction.
“I leaned forward, acted like I was fencing.” The defendant said Aria had been in front of him at the time.
“She had almost taken a step forward but without taking a step forward because before she could, it happened,” he said.
“I don’t know what she was doing.
“The knife went into her. Then I pulled it out. I didn’t know what to do. She put her hand to her chest.” The boy said Aria then fell to the floor on her front.
“I thought she had died,” he told the court.
“I got scared, I panicked. So I ran to the kitchen with the knife and I put it back into the sink.”
He did not check on Aria after she was injured, did not raise the alarm with neighbours or ring for an ambulance.
The boy walked to Worle railway station, where he told a group of children that he had killed Aria accidentally.
His mobile phone had been previously been confiscated by his mother and he borrowed the phone of a boy at the station.
He then searched for “what happens if you kill…”.
A girl at the train station rang police on 999 to report what the boy had said and police quickly attended.
The boy ran onto a train, which police stopped from departing the station. He was then arrested.
When asked how he was feeling about what happened at that time, the boy replied: “I felt horrible”.
Home Office pathologist Dr Amanda Jeffery found Aria died from a single stab wound, which went through her heart.
Dr Jeffery told the jury that Aria would have died “very swiftly” from the injury, which was between 7.5 and 8cm deep.
Aria attended school on the day of her death and was collected from an after-school dance class by her mother, Tori Hull, at about 4.30pm.
They went shopping for mini-pizzas and toppings, which they made together.
Ms Hull left for an evening work shift shortly after, with Aria watching YouTube videos on the television.
Family friend Ollie Sheppard, who was staying temporarily at the house, returned there after work at about 6pm.
He found Aria on the floor of the living room and rang 999, with police and paramedics arriving a short time later.
Tragically, Aria could not be saved and was pronounced dead at 6.58pm.
'Distressing case'
Jurors returned the verdicts of not guilty to both charges of murder and manslaughter.
After they were returned, several members of the public gallery left the court room quietly, having been warned earlier by trial judge Mrs Justice O’Farrell not to show any emotion when the verdicts were delivered.
“Members of the jury,” the judge told them.
“I want to express my thanks to you for the work that you have done in this case – your careful attention to all of the evidence and the speeches as part of your civic duty. I appreciate that this has been a distressing case.
“I am grateful to you for undertaking this difficult task with fortitude and calm reflection.”
After the jury left the courtroom, the judge told the teenager: “You have been found not guilty and you will now be taken down to be processed.”
Aria had just celebrated her ninth birthday at the time of the attack, with sources close to the family noting the youngster was excited for Christmas.