A teenage boy has been found not guilty of stabbing nine-year-old Aria Thorpe to death.
A jury at Bristol Crown Court found the 16-year-old boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, not guilty of both murder and manslaughter earlier today.
The schoolgirl died after being stabbed in 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. He said the knife accidentally went into Aria, causing the fatal injury.
Jurors returned the verdicts of not guilty to both charges.
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.
He told the jury: ‘Aria stood up and I was waving around the knife. 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 defendant said Aria had been in front of him at the time.
‘She had almost taken a step forward but without taking a step forward because before she could, it happened,’ he said. ‘I don’t know what she was doing.
‘The knife went into her. Then I pulled it out. I didn’t know what to do. She put her hand to her chest.’
The boy said Aria then fell to the floor on her front.
‘I thought she had died,’ he told the court. ‘I got scared, I panicked. So I ran to the kitchen with the knife and I put it back into the sink.’
The ‘bubbly’ nine-year-old girl enjoyed the last day of her life at a dance class and eating pizza mere hours before she was stabbed to death
CCTV snapshot of teen talking to other children on the platform at the station after he had stabbed Aria
The then 15-year-old boy on board the train as he tried to flee
Aria Thorpe died after being stabbed in her chest at her home in Weston-super-Mare, North Somerset, on December 15 last year
In a statement read to the jury at Bristol Crown Court, Aria’s mother Victoria Hull said she had helped her daughter get ready for school on the morning of December 15.
She then went to collect Aria at 3.10pm, forgetting her daughter had a dance class. Aria said she wanted to stay for the class, so Ms Hull returned at 4.30pm.
‘Aria said she had a really good day,’ Ms Hull said.
‘We went to Aldi and got mini-pizzas and toppings. We got home at 4.45pm and made the pizzas.
‘Aria was eating her pizza, sitting on the sofa in the living room. She was watching YouTube on the television.’
She added: ‘Aria seemed bubbly and happy because she had a good dance class… Aria asked me if she could have the last Oreo after her food and I said yes.
‘She said something like “see you after work mummy”. I replied “see you after work, love you”.’
Ms Hull then headed out to work at Pontins, where she was doing evening shifts to earn extra money for Christmas.
She became aware people were trying to contact her and left work, arriving at a friend’s house at 7.18pm.
‘The police were there,’ she said. ‘This is when I found out about Aria. I phoned my mum. Female police officers took me to my parents’ house. It was all a blur.’
Earlier in the trial the court heard how after stabbing Aria, the teenager went to a nearby railway station and told a group of school children there what he had done.
One of those children, a girl aged 14, rang police on 999 and directed them to the platform where the boy was waiting to board the next train.
In the call, she told the call handler that the boy said he had ‘stabbed’ Aria.
‘He is saying that he stabbed her and she is dead on the living room floor,’ the girl said.
She told an officer: ‘I had a feeling that something wasn’t right. I got one of my friends to distract him because I went down and called the police. I didn’t know if he still had a knife on him.
‘I called police and told them what had happened. A police car came. As soon as he saw the police, he ran over the bridge and jumped on the train.
‘The police stopped the train and caught him and then he got arrested.’
Picture of a police officer running after the train to stop it from departing with the teen on board
In a statement read to the jury at Bristol Crown Court, Aria’s mother Victoria Hull said she had helped her daughter get ready for school on the morning of December 15
Flowers left near the scene pay tribute to the victim and her family, with a message that reads: ‘Aria, thank you for playing with me. Lots of love to you, your sister and mum’
Forensic officers at the scene in Weston-super-Mare on December 17, 2025
His mobile phone had been previously been confiscated by his mother and he borrowed the phone of a boy at the station.
He then searched for ‘what happens if you kill…’.
In a police interview, the minor described the boy as ‘anxious’ and ‘shaking’ as he talked to them.
PC Timothy Stride attended Worle train station and spotted the boy running on to the train.
The police officer shouted to staff to stop the train from leaving and went on board before arresting him on suspicion of attempted murder at 6.19pm.
‘I could feel him shaking,’ PC Stride said. ‘I advised him to take some deep breaths.’
In a police interview, the boy gave a prepared statement describing how he had stabbed Aria ‘in the chest’.
He told officers: ‘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.’
Another boy, aged 13, said the defendant had told him he stabbed Aria ‘on accident’.
‘He was anxious… He saw police cars going past and said “they are probably looking for me”.’
A 12-year-old girl told police the boy ran towards the train and ‘saluted’ to another child as he boarded.
‘He saluted to my friend and stood there, then went to find a seat, then the police came,’ she said.
The girl described how he came and sat with the group of children on a bench at the station.
The court previously heard that after stabbing Aria, the teenage boy went to a nearby railway station and told a group of school children there what he had done
Dr Amanda Jeffery, a Home Office pathologist, told jurors that Aria died as a result of a single stab wound to her chest, which went through her heart
‘We were all guessing what he had done, what’s happened. He sat there going “I can’t say”. We were guessing “did you kill someone”, someone asked that.
‘He looked up and smirked, looked down and put his head back up again.’
A 12-year-old boy told police: ‘He was saying ‘I’ve done something really bad, I’m going to go to jail for a long time’.’
Dr Amanda Jeffery, a Home Office pathologist, told jurors that Aria died as a result of a single stab wound to her chest, which went through her heart.
‘Injuries to the heart of this nature can result in sudden collapse and incapacitation,’ the pathologist said.
‘Some victims are capable of a short period of movement before they collapse.’
Dr Jeffery said the distribution of blood at the scene suggested that Aria collapsed ‘very quickly’.
‘Aria would have died very swiftly from an injury of this nature,’ she added.
The court heard Aria had a stab wound measuring 3.2cm wide and between 7.5 and 8cm deep.
Jurors were shown a large kitchen knife with a green plastic handle and 21cm-long blade, which Dr Jeffery confirmed was ‘capable of producing the wound that was present’.
