A teenager who was jailed for life for murdering a 16-year-old boy over a £20 drug debt will not be identified publicly until he turns 18, a judge has ruled.
The 17-year-old, who had adopted a “faux gangster persona”, stabbed Joshua Ingram with a 7in (19cm) blade which he pulled from his tracksuit trousers at Seaford railway station on Wednesday 10 September last year.
He was given a life sentence and ordered to serve a minimum of 14 years in detention for the murder by Sir Charles Bourne, also known as Mr Justice Bourne, at Hove Crown Court on Friday 2 October.
Today (Monday 12 October) in a remote hearing at Brighton Crown Court, the same judge ruled that the teenager cannot be identified after applications by the Press Association (PA) and the BBC to lift a ban on reporting his identity.
The automatic reporting restriction that prevents the naming of a defendant under 18 is due to expire next year.
On his decision to maintain the anonymity order, Mr Justice Bourne said that rehabilitation work with a young offender starts after conviction and that it is reasonable to anticipate “important work” with the defendant may take place over the next few months following the sentencing.
He said that identifying him could “hinder” that work and be contrary to the defendant’s welfare and public interest.
The judge said: “There is, based on expert opinion of the Youth Justice Service, a logical risk that worsening his personal situation by lifting the restriction now may disrupt that momentum (of rehabilitation).
“None of this makes it an easy case to decide. It is finding balance.
“The arguments for publication are serious. But it is not law that such arguments must always prevail where a young person commits murder with a knife.
“The restrictions remain necessary in public interest.”
The judge added that he was not convinced that naming the defendant would have a “significant deterrent effect” in this case, as argued by the press, because the events were reported on including the defendant’s life sentence with a minimum 14-year term.
He also added that there was strong public interest in “optimising rehabilitation of a child offender”.
The hearing was told that there were outstanding reports about the defendant’s acceptance of his situation and engagement with education, work and good behaviour while in detention so far.
At the boy’s trial, the jury were told that the young defendant was a “small-time drug dealer” who had supplied Josh Ingram, from Newhaven, with drugs in the summer of 2025 but had not been paid for them.
Snapchat messages read in court included the teenager now convicted of murder saying: “Josh will perish if I don’t get my fucking money. That’s a fact and he knows this.
“I’m ready to sit in a prison cell for 30 years over a £20 sheet.”
At the sentencing hearing, the teenager’s barrister Colin Aylott said that the defendant had been influenced online videos and social media, leading him to adopt a “faux gangster persona”.
He said: “Influence online led to the adoption of this rather disturbing language and disturbing persona. It was all rather pathetic and reflects the immaturity of the defendant.”
He added that the defendant was a “young man who immediately recognised the gravity of what he has done and then tried in every way he can to start on the road to rehabilitation.”
Joshua’s family have said that his death showed the “devastating consequences” of teenage knife crime as they urged young people to rethink their choices.
His mother, Yvette Bullen, told the sentencing hearing: “His life was worth so much more than £20.
“I hope this vicious, senseless act makes others think before carrying a knife and, as for others, if you know someone is carrying one, report it rather than assisting them, because this could have been prevented if someone had spoken up.”
Sentencing the 17-year-old defendant, Mr Justice Bourne said that Joshua had been a “popular young man with all his life before him”.
