Teenager found not guilty of murdering nine-year-old Aria Thorpe

A teenage boy has been cleared of murdering a nine-year-old after telling jurors he stabbed her in the chest with an eight-inch knife by ‘accident’ while trying to ‘scare’ her.

A teenage boy has been cleared of murdering a nine-year-old after telling jurors he stabbed her in the chest with an eight-inch knife by ‘accident’ while trying to ‘scare’ her.

The 16-year-old, who cannot be identified due to his age, was also found not guilty of an alternative charge of manslaughter by a jury at Bristol Crown Court on Thursday.

Aria Thorpe died after sustaining a knife wound to her chest at her home in Weston-super-Mare, North Somerset, on December 15 last year.

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’.

He later told the jury at Bristol Crown Court that 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 knife in a ninja-style way before jabbing it towards Aria as if he was fencing.

After they were returned, some members of the public gallery, including Aria’s mother Tori Hull, left the court room quietly.

They had earlier been warned by trial judge Mrs Justice O’Farrell not to show any emotion when the verdicts were delivered.

‘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.

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.’

During the trial, the boy said he had wanted to ‘scare’ Aria and picked up the knife, which had a 21cm blade, from near the kitchen sink before going into the lounge.