Fourteen-year-old boy who has ‘fixation with knives’ stabbed man to death, court hears

Police found over 600 pictures of blades on defendant's phone

Trial is ongoing at Bristol Crown Court (PA)

A 14-year-old boy who had a “fixation with knives” stabbed a man to death, a court has heard.

The defendant, who cannot be named for legal reasons, denies murdering Darren Edgington, 39, in Bristol.

He is alleged to have attacked Mr Edgington after arguing with him in the St Pauls area of the city on 21 June.

Bristol Crown Court was told the boy was overheard saying “I'm going to kill” before Mr Edgington was stabbed.

Andrew Langdon QC, prosecuting, said: “Though he is only 14-years-old, he has an established history of carrying knives.

“He had an interest in the use of knives by others to stab.”

Mr Langdon told the jury of nine men and three women that the boy had a “fixation with knives”.

The boy was given a caution when he was aged 13 after being found carrying a large hunting knife.

Two days before Mr Edgington's death, a knife fell out of his pocket while he was in a cafe.

The night before, a family member saw a knife on his bed and photographed it.

“When he was arrested, yet another knife - a brown-handled flip-knife - was found on the floor at the end of his bed,” Mr Langdon said.

“An iPhone that was seized, that belonged to him, has been downloaded.

“It shows that in February, he tried to buy two knives online but failed because he did not provide proof of his age.

“In early June, he repeatedly looked at news stories on his phone that involved fatal knife stabbings.

“On his phone were over 600 images of knives, 200 or so created in the month before the killing.

“There was a short video clip of him holding a flick-knife in his bedroom.”

Mr Edgington and friend Nico Newbury, 27, arrived outside a shop in Grosvenor Road in Bristol at 5.40pm - about five minutes before the stabbing occurred.

The defendant and a “number of other lads” were also outside the shop, Grosvenor Supermarket, at the time.

Mr Edgington, Mr Newbury, the defendant and most of his friends were on bicycles.

Witnesses heard Mr Edgington, who was riding a yellow hire YoBike, shouting at the group about a stolen bicycle.

Mr Langdon said the argument became “hostile fairly quickly”.

A woman driving past heard the defendant say “I'm going to kill”, with others shouting “let's do it”.

The boy and Mr Edgington cycled away, with one of the defendant's friends appearing to film on his mobile phone.

Mr Newbury followed the group and saw Mr Edgington holding up his bike as if “fending off an attack”, Mr Langdon said.

He then saw the boy's hand withdrawing a knife, with Mr Edgington saying: “I've been stabbed.”

Emergency services attended the scene but Mr Edgington died a short time later from a stab wound to his chest.

The boy was arrested at 3am the following day and initially denied any involvement in the death.

A spot of blood found on trainers taken from his bedroom matched DNA taken from Mr Edgington, the court heard.

“He does now accept that it was him who held the knife that caused the fatal stab wound,” Mr Langdon said.

“He says it was an accident or that it happened in self-defence.”

The boy denies murder and the trial continues.

Press Association