Teen said he was ‘playing around’ when he allegedly stabbed girl, 9, to death

Footage from the train station played in court appeared to show the teen talking to a group of young people who he knew from school on – he allegedly told a peer he had killed someone

A teenager, who stabbed a nine-year-old in the chest, allegedly admitted to a peer that he had killed someone., a court has heard

The 16-year-old, who cannot be named, is accused of murdering Aria Thorpe in Weston-super-Mare, North Somerset, on December 15, 2025. She died from a single stab wound to her lung and heart.

Bristol Crown Court heard the teen told a group that he was “playing around” with Aria when he “accidentally stabbed her with a really big knife”. He said he expected the girl to flinch when he jabbed the knife toward her in an attempt to frighten her.

Jurors heard how the boy walked to a nearby railway station following the incident.

Footage from the train station played in court appeared to show the defendant talking to a group of young people who he knew from school on the platform.

“You’ll see it on the news later,” he told them. “I was playing around with a knife. (She) walked into the knife. I accidentally stabbed her with a really big knife.”

He told one of the group, who he knew: “Yo (name) I’m a murderer. I accidentally killed someone.”

One of the group called the police while another distracted the teen to report what he had been saying.

The teenager was arrested minutes later as he was sitting on the floor of a carriage of a train waiting to leave the station.

The boy reportedly told police in a prepared statement: “I grabbed a knife and stabbed her in the chest.

“I didn’t use a lot of force, but it was a big knife. I don’t know why I did it, it just happened.

“I walked over and stabbed her. She fell to the floor. I left and went to the train station to get a train and to get away.”

Ollie Sheppard, a family friend who had been staying at the home, was asked about the moment he returned to the property from work nearby.

He said he initially thought Aria was “messing around” when he found her lying face down on the floor after she had been fatally stabbed.

Mr Sheppard told the court that he was staying at the property temporarily when he returned there after work at around 6pm.

He explained that he entered the property through the rear door located in the kitchen, where he found the family dogs shut – something he described as normal if no one was home.

He said the house “felt cold.”

“Everything was silent. One of the kitchen drawers was wide open. I went from the kitchen into the hallway,” he added.

“I couldn’t push open the door because the door to the cupboard under the stairs was open. I managed to push my way through.

“As I pushed through the door, I just walked down the hallway, and I turned round by the stairs, and I saw Aria on the floor.”

Ray Tully KC, prosecuting, asked what his first thought when he saw Aria on the floor.

Mr Sheppard replied: “She was messing around. I called her name, Aria, and pretty much I had put two and two together and I saw blood on her arm.”

He explained how he called Aria’s mum who did not answer. He left her a note to contact him and then called 999.

A post-mortem examination found Aria had suffered a single stab wound to the chest and would have “died very swiftly from her injury.”

The teenager denies charges of murder and manslaughter and the trial continues.