A teenager is accused of attempted murder following the alleged ‘premeditated’ attackAdam Everett Crown Court Reporter and James Holt Senior Live and Breaking News Reporter
20:25, 14 Oct 2025
Merseyside Police scene on Whitefield Drive, Kirkby(Image: Liverpool ECHO)
A teenager stabbed a 15-year-old boy 11 times and also went on to knife his girlfriend in the chest, a trial has heard.
The youth, who is also aged 15 and cannot be named due to legal reasons, was said to have carried out the ‘premeditated’ attack in retaliation for an earlier incident, which saw his friend suffer a head injury after being struck with a metal pole.
This was described as the ‘catalyst’ for the defendant then stashing a knife in his waistband before approaching the other boy at a bus stop outside a convenience store and delivering repeated blows with the weapon, as well as stabbing a 14-year-old girl when she tried to intervene.
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He went on trial at Liverpool Crown Court on Tuesday (October 14) accused of charges including attempted murder, the ECHO reports.
A jury of six men and six women were played CCTV footage showing the defendant, who was then aged 14, and one of his friends approaching the shelter on Whitefield Drive in Kirkby on the evening of April 30 this year wearing tracksuits and with their hoods up.
Another boy, who was waiting to take a bus home along with two girls, was then seen to pick up a discarded bottle from the floor and confront the second male while shouting: “What? What? What?”
Liverpool Crown Court(Image: Liverpool Echo)
The defendant was then captured ‘circling behind him, approaching from his blindside’ the court heard, before producing a bladed a weapon from the waistband of his trousers before stabbing the teen, causing him to fall to the floor.
Screaming was then heard as he continued to knife the boy and kick him to the head.
Arthur Gibson told the court during the prosecution’s opening: “In all, he delivers 11 stab blows to [the boy]. In the course of the attack, [the boy’s girlfriend] intervenes and comes between the two of them. He stabs her once. That, in a nutshell, is what this case is all about.”
Both the boy and girl suffered serious stab wounds as a result of the incident and were taken to Alder Hey Children’s Hospital, although they have since ‘made good recoveries from their injuries’.
The stabbing was said to have followed an earlier altercation in an area known as the Alt, off nearby Tithe Barn Lane, during which the injured boy was alleged to have thrown a metal pole at another friend of the defendant and left him requiring hospital treatment for a cut to his forehead, the court was told.
This came after the other boy in the opposing group had reportedly ‘produced a weapon from his trousers’, with Mr Gibson describing this as being ‘a catalyst which caused the eventual incident outside Go Local’ on Whitefield Drive.
The defendant returned home following this initial confrontation, but, after receiving a 45 second phone call from his friend shortly after 8pm, the two were shown meeting up again within five minutes before walking towards the area of the bus shelter.
CCTV then captured him ‘messing around’ as he apparently ‘put something in the waistband of his trousers’, allegedly a knife, with his companion seen wearing a balaclava.
Mr Gibson added: “The prosecution say that whatever happened at the bus shelter was not a sudden reaction to what happened at the Alt. This is 25 minutes later. This had been thought out. [The defendant] came at him from behind. The prosecution says that, when you look closely, you will be able to see him producing the knife from his waistband.”
The injured boy was initially stabbed twice in the back before falling to the ground, at which stage the defendant is alleged to have ‘stood over him and stabbed him three more times’. He then ‘pushed past’ the two girls as they ‘tried to get between him and [the victim]’ before delivering a further three blows with the knife, the jury was told.
Mr Gibson continued: “It was at this point that [the girl] got between the two of them, and he plunged the knife into her chest. He then turned his attention back to [the boy]. [The boy] was trying to pick himself up off the ground. [The defendant] kicked him in the face and stabbed him several more times. In all, he suffered 11 stab wounds, mainly to either his upper front torso, his back or his upper left arm.”
The defendant and his friend were said to have run away from the scene after the stabbing, although he was arrested at his home address shortly after 9.30pm the same evening. Officers noted at this stage that he had sustained a cut to his hand, while he later told detectives he had ‘never met [the boy] before’ when interviewed the following day.
Michael Pugh, the landlord of the nearby Johnny Todd pub, administered first aid to the boy after a member of the public ‘came in shouting ‘two kids have been stabbed by the shop’.
A nurse who also happened to be driving past the area also came to his aid before the arrival of police and paramedics. Mr Gibson concluded his opening by saying: “The first incident, the prosecution say, was the catalyst for what then happened 20 minutes later outside that shop on Whitefield Drive.
“The defendant has accepted stabbing both [the boy and the girl] and that, at the time, he was acting unlawfully. He claims that he only intended to cause [the boy] serious injury and did not intend to kill him. He claims that he was simply reckless when he lashed out with the knife and was not intending to cause [the girl] serious injury.
“We, the prosecution, do not accept that. We say that he attempted to kill, that is, to murder, [the boy]. We say that the attack was premeditated. He armed himself with a knife. He repeatedly stabbed [the boy], not just once or twice, not even three or four times. A total of 11 blows.
“He stabbed him a couple of times. [The boy] immediately goes to the ground. But he continued to stab him. He persisted in the attack, even though both girls tried to intervene, even after [the girlfriend] had got between him and [the boy] and even after he had stabbed her, we say, to get her out of the way.
“The blows themselves were aimed at [the boy’s] chest area, either from the front or the back, where his vital organs were situated. We say that he must have known he had already caused him serious injury after those first blows, but he continued to do so.
“We, the prosecution, say that there is only really one reason why you continue to stab someone so many times. That is because your intention is not solely to cause them serious harm, it is to kill.”
The youth, who is represented by Julian Nutter, denies attempting to murder the boy and wounding with intent against the girl. However, he has pleaded guilty to the lesser charges of wounding with intent in relation to the former complainant and unlawful wounding concerning the latter.
The trial continues.