Teen stabbed boy on crowded dance floor, jury told

Charlie Cosser was stabbed at an address in Warnham on 23 July

A teenager stabbed a 17-year-old boy in a fight on a crowded dance floor at a party, Brighton Crown Court has been told.

Charlie Cosser, from Milford, Surrey, died in hospital two days after he was stabbed at an outdoor event attended by more than 100 people in Warnham, Sussex, on 23 July 2023.

The 17-year-old defendant, who was 16 at the time and cannot be named, denies murder and having a bladed article.

Prosecutor Alan Gardner KC said the defendant and his friends had been asked to leave because of complaints from a girl, and it appears this triggered the violence.

Jurors saw video footage of revellers dancing under disco lights in a marquee, with a fight visible in the background.

Mr Gardner said: “In the darkness and noise of a crowded dance floor, (the defendant's) use of the knife and blows of the knife went unnoticed by those in the vicinity.”

He said: “The knife came into contact with Charlie more than once, three times in fact, but it was the stab wound to the central area of his chest which proved to be the fatal injury.”

Bloodstained T-shirt

The prosecutor said the defendant had shared a bottle of vodka with a friend and taken the knife to the party.

He said the teenager had been heard speaking about “beating” another party-goer.

A teenage girl heard him say “get the shank” which she believed to be a reference to a knife, he said.

The witness did not see a knife, but the reference was “significant”, he added.

Witnesses said they saw Mr Cosser lying on the grass after the fight and believed he was intoxicated, the court heard.

Later, his friend saw his T-shirt was bloodstained and lifted it to see the wounds and another friend called an ambulance, jurors heard.

The prosecutor said other witnesses saw the defendant’s hands and jogging bottoms covered in blood.

One boy said he heard him say “I’ve stabbed someone” six or seven times, jurors were told.

The court heard Mr Cosser was still conscious when police arrived at 00:30 BST. He suffered a cardiac arrest while being transferred to hospital, with internal bleeding caused by a cut to his aorta, the main artery from the heart.

The trial continues.