Teen guilty of murdering boy, 14, in pre-arranged fight

A teenager who stabbed a 14-year-old boy to death in a "deliberate and frenzied" attack during a prearranged fight on the Isle of Man has been found guilty of murder.

The 16-year-old, who cannot be named because of his age, attacked Christopher McBurnie in Ramsey on 29 May last year after the pair rowed and challenged each other in social media messages.

Christopher was stabbed outside the boy's home after traveling to the northern town from Castletown after the fight was arranged Snapchat.

Jurors took about six-and-a-half hours to reach their verdict following a four-week trial in which the accused tried to claim he had acted in self defence.

Douglas Courthouse was previously told the two boys had never met before the day of the stabbing but had traded insults on the social media platform about once a year for the past three years.

On the evening of 28 May, Christopher had insulted the boy on someone else's TikTok live stream before the argument moved to Snapchat.

Both boys threatened to kill the other in a group chat, with 11 threats made by the now-convicted teenager.

During the exchanges he repeatedly told Christopher to "come [to] Ramsey", telling him if he did he would come out of his house and kill him, the trial heard.

The messages continued into the following day and included Christopher sending a picture of a bus stop - indicating he was on his way to Ramsey.

He was joined by two friends on the journey and the boys met up with a group of five others at the island's northern bus station before they all walked to the teenager's house.

When they arrived outside, the boy came out of the front door and was punched twice in the head by Christopher before he stabbed him.

He then went back inside, washed the knife and put it in his wardrobe, hiding his phone under his bed.

His defence had argued that he did not believe the fight was going to happen until he saw the group of young people outside his home through the kitchen window, and he had grabbed the kitchen knife and put it in his pocket because he was scared.

However, the prosecution successfully argued he had intentionally lured Christopher to his house for the fight before carrying out a "deliberate and frenzied" attack.

The teenager, who was wearing a shirt and tie, did not react when the verdict was delivered.

There was brief clapping and cheers from the victim's family in the public gallery.

Addressing his relatives afterwards, Deemster Graeme Cook said: "I appreciate that there had to be some emotion. I'm not criticising you at all."

The teenager will be sentenced on 12 January.

Det Ch Insp Neil Craig said the thoughts of Isle of Man Constabulary were "first and foremost with Christopher's family and everyone who loved him".

"At the heart of this case is a person who lost their life, and a family who must live with that loss every day," he said.

"Christopher was a 14-year-old boy whose life was taken from him in the most tragic of circumstances."

The boy's family's loss "extends far beyond these proceedings".

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