{"id":361366,"date":"2026-01-09T18:51:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-09T18:51:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/361366\/"},"modified":"2026-01-09T18:51:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-09T18:51:10","slug":"girl-9-died-from-stab-wound-to-chest-inquest-told","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/361366\/","title":{"rendered":"Girl, 9, died from stab wound to chest, inquest told"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Fiona Lamdin,West of England home and social affairs correspondent, in Avon Coroners Courtand<\/p>\n<p>Beth Cruse,West of England<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1767627007_494_grey-placeholder.png\" class=\"sc-5340b511-0 gUePlo hide-when-no-script\" aria-label=\"image unavailable\"\/><img decoding=\"async\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/2c9276b0-ed53-11f0-ae21-ad55904e2b54.jpg.webp.webp\" loading=\"eager\" alt=\"Family handout A young girl with long dark-brown hair is smiling at a camera wearing a light-pink princess dress and jewellery. She is wearing a crown which says 'Happy Birthday'.\" class=\"sc-5340b511-0 hLdNfA\"\/>Family handout<\/p>\n<p>Aria Thorpe died at her home in Weston-super-Mare in December 2025<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">A nine-year-old girl died at home from a single stab wound to the chest, an inquest opening heard.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Aria Thorpe was pronounced dead at her home in Lime Close, Weston-super-Mare, by paramedics at 18:58 GMT on 15 December 2025.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">An inquest into her death opened at Avon Coroners Court earlier and was adjourned until 10 April.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">A 15-year-old boy, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, has been charged with her murder and <a target=\"_self\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/articles\/cgqzp452zz2o\" class=\"sc-f9178328-0 iCaRzc\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">is next due to appear at Bristol Crown Court<\/a> in March.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Coroner&#8217;s officer Andrew Eastwood told the court: &#8220;The deceased died at her home address from a stab wound to her chest.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">He listed interested persons in the case as Aria&#8217;s family, and the alleged perpetrator.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Dr Peter Harrowing, area coroner for Avon, directed that the full post-mortem report should be provided by February 16.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1767627007_494_grey-placeholder.png\" class=\"sc-5340b511-0 gUePlo hide-when-no-script\" aria-label=\"image unavailable\"\/><img decoding=\"async\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/e86a66c0-db71-11f0-9817-e5239190d76e.jpg.webp.webp\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"Family photograph A close-up picture of Aria Thorpe. She is leaning her head to the side and she is smiling. On top of her head are Minnie Mouse ears.\" class=\"sc-5340b511-0 hLdNfA\"\/>Family photograph<\/p>\n<p>Nine-year-old Aria Thorpe&#8217;s family said her death had left them &#8220;devastated&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">In a tribute released previously, <a target=\"_self\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/articles\/c33m2j4nnkro\" class=\"sc-f9178328-0 iCaRzc\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Aria&#8217;s family said she was a &#8220;happy-go-lucky&#8221; little girl<\/a> who was &#8220;full of light and joy&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">&#8220;The loss of Aria has devastated us beyond words,&#8221; the family said. <\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">&#8220;Our hearts are broken in a way we never imagined possible.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Aria&#8217;s father Tom Thorpe, from Portsmouth, added that her death was &#8220;devastating&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">&#8220;You will be greatly missed, you special little angel,&#8221; he said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fiona Lamdin,West of England home and social affairs correspondent, in Avon Coroners Courtand Beth Cruse,West of England Family&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":361367,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-361366","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361366","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=361366"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361366\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/361367"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=361366"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=361366"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=361366"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}