Ava White: Boy who killed girl, 12, in Snapchat row gets life

Ava White died after a Christmas lights switch-on event in Liverpool

A 15-year-old boy who stabbed a schoolgirl to death after a row over a Snapchat video has been sentenced for her murder.

Ava White, 12, was killed in Liverpool city centre after a Christmas lights switch-on event in November 2021.

The boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, claimed he accidentally stabbed her in self-defence but was found guilty after a trial.

He was sentenced to life with a minimum of 13 years at Liverpool Crown Court.

The trial heard Ava and her friends became involved in an argument with the teenager and three of his friends after the boys recorded Snapchat videos of her group.

Ava's friends said the boy, who was 14 at the time, "grinned" after stabbing her in the neck with a flick-knife before fleeing the scene.

She was taken to Alder Hey Children's Hospital with critical injuries and died a short time later.

Ava White was described as a "kind hearted little girl" by her mother

The boy then dumped the knife and took off his coat, which was later found in a wheelie bin, as he began covering up his actions.

CCTV later showed him and his friends in a shop where the boy took a selfie and bought butter, which he said was for crumpets.

He then went to a friend's home and when his mother contacted him to tell him police wanted to speak to him he told her he was playing a computer game.

The boy was arrested at about 22:30 GMT, just two hours after the fatal stabbing.

The court heard he denied being in the city centre at all before going on to blame another boy for the stabbing.

He later said he heard one of Ava's group threaten to stab his friend if he did not delete a video of Ava and claimed he had wanted only to "frighten her away" and had not meant to stab her.

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The girl's mother broke down in court at the sentencing as she described her grief.

Leanne White said: "My beloved Ava dies all over again every morning I wake up.

"The moment Ava died is now yesterday, tomorrow and forever. It is the past, the present and the future.

"It is not just one horrific moment in time that happened last whenever. It is not just the moment, the hour or second.

"Our lives became permanently divided into before and after."

Ava had dreamed of travelling the world as an air hostess, her mum says

She described her daughter as a "kind hearted little girl" and said "precious memories are all I have left".

Her mother added: "She will never fulfil her dream of becoming an air hostess and travelling the world."

A statement from Ava's father Robert Martin was also read to the court.

He said: "Ava was the reason I got out of bed, my reason for living. When Ava was taken away it destroyed everything I stood for and worked towards."

The court heard the boy, who has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and attended a special school, had previously been subject to a community resolution notice after hitting a PCSO last July.

Mrs Justice Yip said he had also been arrested in May last year for assault on two women and by August it was suspected he was being exploited by known criminals.

Nick Johnson QC, defending, said the defendant was carrying the knife because he had previously been a victim of crime.

The court heard his father had been violent towards his mother and was jailed in 2015.

Balloons were released at the start a vigil in memory of Ava

The boy admitted possessing the knife but denied murder and an alternative charge of manslaughter.

Mrs Justice Yip said: he had shown a lack of remorse which had "understandably caused Ava's family further distress".

Sentencing him, she said: "There is only one reason why Ava is dead and that is because you chose to carry a knife and you chose to get it out and use it.

"You enjoyed carrying a knife. You were showing it off to your friends earlier that evening. It was a nasty weapon and you should not have had it."

Football fans paid tribute to Ava at a Merseyside derby match

Det Supt Sue Coombs described the case as "extremely shocking" and said she hoped the sentence would be a deterrent to young people carrying knives.

Ava's sister Mia White told in a statement read to the court how she wants to give talks about the impact of knife crime.

The 18-year-old said: "Hopefully if I can change at least one child's mind about using a knife I will have accomplished something special."

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