Teenage boy found not guilty of murdering Aria Thorpe, nine, in Somerset

A 16-year-old boy has been found not guilty of the murder of nine-year-old Aria Thorpe, who died after being stabbed with a kitchen knife. Aria sustained a deep wound to her chest at her home in Weston-super-Mare, North Somerset, on 15 December last year. The prosecution’s case was that the boy stabbed Aria deliberately, intending to kill or cause her serious harm. Alternatively, the prosecution had argued that his action was one that any reasonable person would realise was bound to subject Aria to the risk of physical harm. Giving evidence at Bristol crown court, the boy said 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. “Aria stood up and I was waving around the knife,” he told the jury. “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 knife went into her. Then I pulled it out. I didn’t know what to do. She put her hand to her chest.” In her summing up, Mrs Justice O’Farrell described it as a “tragic and shocking case” that gave rise to very strong feelings. She said: “He accepts he stabbed with the kitchen knife but he says it was an accident. His intention was to scare her. He held the knife in his hand and lurched or jabbed towards her. …