Boy sentenced for stabbing girl who would not date him

An "obsessed" boy who stabbed a girl multiple times with a 6in knife after she refused to date him has been handed a three-year restraining order.

The boy, 14, briefly dated the girl, 14, before she ended the relationship. He then carried out a "horrifying" attack in a shop in Cirencester, Gloucestershire, in March.

The boy, from Wiltshire, admitted at Gloucester Crown Court wounding with intent, inflicting grievous bodily harm without intent and possession of a bladed article in a public place. He was also handed a one-year referral order.

Det Supt Ian Fletcher saidof CCTV of the attack: "Anyone who sees footage would say she is verylucky to not have very serious, if not fatal injuries."

He likened the attack to the award-winning TV drama Adolescence, in which a teenager stabs his female classmate.

Fletcher said: "There are over 10 attempts to stab her. The severity and the length of the attack, he's clearly very determined to cause serious injury."

The court heard the boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had waited in a car park and seen the girl walk into a shop on 15 March.

While at the counter, he stabbed her with the kitchen knife, in an attack captured on the CCTV.

Sentencing the boy, Judge Ian Lawrie told the court the stabbing was a "very troubling event" but he did not take the view that the offender was a "danger".

He said: "He's still young. And he is capable of learning."

The judge told the court he was "surprised" the boy had spent three months in custody as "while the offences are serious" he said it was "inconsistent" with the usual process for youth cases.

Fletcher said the offender walked "horrifyingly" slowly towards the girl before stabbing her, and the CCTV footage of the attack was "absolutely horrifying" to watch.

Gloucestershire Police was unable to confirm exactly how many times the boy had stabbed the girl, but the CCTV footage appeared to show it was up to 10 times, he said.

Fletcher said after the girl had broken up with the boy, he began bombarding her with messages on social media before she blocked him.

"This is an offender who was clearly obsessed with our victim.

"There was a brief period where they were dating. That was stopped, she no longer wanted a boyfriend, and that obsessive behaviour has built," he said.

A shopkeeper at the store had "acted very bravely" to intervene and had been stabbed in the process, the detective said.

He added the staff member could be seen on the CCTV footage running to the shop door to allow the teenage victim to escape.

The shopkeeper remained "very shocked", while the teenage girl- who suffered lacerations and cuts - had had her mental health impacted, Fletcher added.

He explained the offender's obsessive behaviour was not unusual in itself.

However, he added: "What is unusual in this case is that it's a 14-year-old child that has had this obsessive behaviour.

"It's the type of thing we'd see in domestic violence cases with adults, but it's not something we would have normally seen when it comes to child offenders."

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