The 16-year-old killer of schoolboy Joshua Ingram threatened that he would “perish” three months before stabbing him to death over a £20 drug debt, a jury heard this afternoon (Tuesday 7 July).
Rossano Scamardella, prosecuting, told the jury that the boy who killed Josh had plotted his “cowardly attack” with two friends who were arrested on their way to dispose of the murder weapon.
Mr Scamardella said: “The incident was over in a flash but the attack was anything but spontaneous … The attack was planned – and it was carried out with lethal effect.”
The “cold-blooded” killer, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was filmed by security cameras as he ran up behind Josh at Seaford Railway Station and stabbed him twice, Mr Scamardella said.
At Hove Crown Court, the barrister played the footage to the jurors and showed them the knife.
He said: “Such was the sharpness of the blade and the force used, the knife tracked through his coat and clothing and entered his body on the lower front right side of his chest.
“It passed upwards through his diaphragm and into and through the right ventricle of his heart. The blade travelled 15cm into his body.
“Joshua stood no chance. The speed of the attack from behind gave him no chance to defend himself and the injury he sustained was so serious that he could not survive.
“He collapsed on the station platform and, despite the very best attempts by members of the public and emergency workers, he died within an hour of being stabbed and even before he could be taken to a hospital.
“As Joshua lay dying on the platform, (his killer) was fleeing the scene and planning how to get away with murder.
“His first step was to try to dispose of the murder weapon and he did that by turning to … one of the boys who had planned the attack with him.
“(The killer) put the blade in a JD Sports bag and went to (his friend’s) home address. He gave him the bag in which the knife and some clothing had been put.
“Later that same day, (the killer’s two friends) met and took the bag, which contained the knife, with them as they walked through Seaford.”
As police swarmed into the town, the boy killer’s two friends were spotted by local youngsters who had already heard what had happened. One of the child accomplices tried to flee.
Mr Scamardella said: “They eventually caught up with him and subjected both boys to a beating. It did not last long and they managed to get away.
“While en route to dispose of the murder weapon over the cliff, they were stopped by the police and taken to Seaford Police Station.
“There they handed the bag to officers and told them that they knew the bag contained the weapon used to stab Joshua Ingram.”
Mr Scamardella also told the jury that the “small-time drug dealer” who stabbed Josh had pleaded guilty to manslaughter but denied murder.
But the prosecutor said: “Joshua Ingram was murdered in cold blood … and the cowardly attack on him had been planned for weeks.”
Two boys, 17 and 15, who also cannot be named, helped the killer with the scheming and the planning before the knife attack, Mr Scamardella said.
The older child, who was 16 at the time, has admitted assisting an offender by trying to dispose of the knife. The younger child, who was 14 when Josh was killed, denied the charge.
All three boys, who live in Seaford, deny conspiring to cause Josh grievous bodily harm (GBH) with intent although the prosecutor said that messages between all three would show otherwise.
He said: “These messages demonstrate that this was no joke and nor was it bravado … (They reveal) that their plans were serious and their plans genuine … The attack was planned and it was carried out with lethal effect.”
And, Mr Scamardella said, the killer’s young friends “were there to assist him immediately after, when they knew he had stabbed Joshua Ingram”.
In court, where the trial is expected to last three weeks, the judge, Sir Charles Bourne, known as Mr Justice Bourne, has dispensed with his wig and robes, because of the young ages of the children on trial.
The eight barristers, two prosecution counsel and six defence advocates, are also not wearing their wigs and gowns – a move that may well also provide some relief from the heatwave.
The trial continues.
