The teenager who murdered Ava White has been locked up for life with a minimum term of 13 years.
Ava, 12, died in November last year after being stabbed in the neck in Liverpool. Her 14-year-old killer, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was found guilty of murder in May following a trial and returned to Liverpool Crown Court for sentencing today, Monday.
Handing Boy A - who has since turned 15 - a life sentence, Justice Amanda Yip said: "Ava White was only 12 years old. She was full of character, always laughing and had lots of friends.
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"We have heard this morning that she was kind-hearted. Her family were proud of the certificates awarded to her for her kindness.
"Ava was also fearless. Her cousin said she thought she was invincible.
"At the age of 12, she had every right to think that. When she went out that evening to have some fun in town, no-one could ever have imagined she would be killed - least of all Ava.
"Ava’s death has left a huge hole in the lives of her family and friends. It is a hole that will never be filled.
"Ava will never grow up and fulfil her dreams. She will be remembered by many, and their lives will be marked forever.
"The way in which Ava met her death shocked this city. For a young girl to be stabbed in the neck in the city centre while many people, including children, were there to enjoy the turning on of the Christmas lights is truly shocking."
Boy A, from South Liverpool, knifed Year 8 Notre Dame Catholic College pupil Ava with a flick knife after an argument about him filming her on Snapchat before laughing and running away. The teen then ditched the weapon, his designer coat and mobile phone in a "cover up" before taking selfies, buying crumpets and playing video games.
He gave a false alibi to police and blamed another boy for killing Ava before changing his story and claiming to have acted in self-defence. But a jury convicted him of murder after two hours and eight minutes of deliberations, having heard evidence over the course of 12 days.
The trial heard Ava and a group of friends, aged between 11 and 15, had shared small bottles of vodka and were "messing around" near the Royal Court Theatre on Roe Street on the evening November 25 2021. Footage showed them "dancing and singing" before being told to move on by security staff at around 8.15pm.
They headed to Williamson Square and Richmond Street, where Ava and another girl were seen lying on the ground. Boy A walked by with three friends - Boys B, C and D, aged 13 to 15 - who were said to laugh and film the victim on their phones.
Boy A shared one video on Snapchat. Prosecutors said "angry" Ava demanded they delete any videos and tried to grab Boy C's phone. Jurors were told two masked boys who knew Ava's group came over - Boys F and G - and told Boy C, 16, to delete a video.
Boy A said they held a "big knife" to Boy C's stomach and threatened "delete the f***ing video now or I'm gonna stab you". After Boy C deleted his video, Boys F and G walked away.
An autistic man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said he later saw Boys F and G run past with a "Rambo knife". Boy A's group and Ava's friends walked up Tarleton Street as they continued to argue.
Prosecutors said Boy A's group "jeered" at Ava when she lay down in Church Street, before she and her friends ran after them up Church Alley. Charlotte Newell QC, prosecuting, said Ava pushed Boy A on School Lane at around 8.35pm.
CCTV showed him moving backwards before he pulled out his knife and plunged it 5cm into her neck, damaging her jugular vein and causing "catastrophic bleeding". Ms Newell said his reaction had not been to turn and run, or slap or punch Ava but was "instead to thrust a knife into the neck of this unarmed child."
Sentencing, Justice Yip added: "Unlike Ava you will still have a chance to grow up, but your life has been changed forever. You will only be released if you can show you are no longer a danger.
"Because of your age, you may be released while you are still a young man. I know that will seem unfair to Ava’s family when they have lost the chance to see her grow up.
"I accept that you did not go out that evening intending to kill, or even to hurt, anyone. You did not know Ava.
"You came across each other by chance. It is a tragedy that the events leading to Ava’s death started with something so small.
"There was a bit of what looked like pushing and shoving between you, and that is exactly where it should have ended. You could have run away and escaped, just as you did after you stabbed Ava.
"You chose instead to get your knife out. You did not give her any chance to back off.
"You did not show her the knife or shout a warning, you simply swung at her - plunging the knife into her neck. The whole thing happened so quickly.
"Only a minute after Ava was seen running towards Church Alley, she had been stabbed."
Boy A fled and ditched the blade near some derelict properties and then left his coat in his nan's garden. He and Boy B met Boy C and went back to his flat, stopping to buy crumpets at a shop, where Boy A took a selfie.
Police went to Boy A's home and got his mum to ring him, but he hung up. He sent her a photo of the video game Call of Duty, which he said he had been playing, then moaned in a text: "Gonna end up going the cells for nothing."
The youth was arrested in Toxteth shortly after 10.30pm and lied to officers under interview, claiming that he had been at the flat from 5pm to 10pm until confronted with CCTV footage that proved otherwise. He then claimed another boy stabbed Ava, before confessing he made that up.
Boy A told police in March where to find the knife - which had a 7.5cm blade - and admitted possessing an offensive weapon. He told jurors he carried it "because he thought he was big".
He claimed Ava had said "shall we just jump him now cos I feel like it" and he was "scared" when she and friends ran at him. Asked why he got his knife out, he replied: "Because I was frightened and I was trying to get away, I promise I didn't mean to hit her."
Ms Newell told the jury Boy A had shown a "callous disregard" for Ava - "taking selfies, eating crumpets and playing Call of Duty, knowing he had stabbed her" and "repeatedly tried to hide the truth". She said: "Boy A tells a lie until it's proved wrong, then he moves onto another one."
The prosecutor said Boy A and his group were "not scared of little Ava". She added: "He uses the knife on an unarmed 12-year-old girl who is shouting at him.
"He uses his knife, when he doesn't need to, on a little girl."
Nick Johnson QC, defending, had argued during the trial that Ava was the "aggressor" and it was not the case the prosecution had "sold" the jury. He said Ava - taller and heavier than Boy A - had "pursued" him with her friends, while his friends, "intimidated" by the earlier incident, were "too scared" to step in.
He said Boy A was "outnumbered and unable to defend himself against numbers and a possible weapon" and the fatal blow was "a swipe, not a thrust", as he tried to warn Ava off. Mr Johnson said his client was a "scared kid" who had lied to the police, but was "telling the truth now".
Today, he described how his client had been "exploited by other people on the streets" and began carrying a knife after being the "victim of an incident". The defence counsel added in mitigation: "He didn’t go out with the intention of using that knife.
"The knife was being carried as a consequence of an incident in which he’d been involved as a victim. Before November last year, there was a very real concern he was being exploited by older, more criminally sophisticated people.
"Your ladyship could reasonably give him the benefit of the doubt so far as his motivation for carrying a knife is concerned. It’s not advanced by us as an excuse.
"This is precisely the sort of area where children of his age need to understand there are very real consequences as a result of making those sorts of very, very bad decisions. His decision to take out the knife, his appalling decision to take it out of his pocket and use it, is one that will blight many people’s lives for a long time to come.
“He’s now beginning to realise that. Of course, it’s all too late.
“All I can probably reasonably say is, wherever the rights and wrongs are concerned, it doesn’t look anything like he was going out looking for trouble. So far as his intention was concerned, this was not an intention kill - but clearly an intention to cause really serious harm, because that’s the necessary legal ingredient for murder.”
Mr Johnson also said Boy A was a "particularly immature 14-year-old" who had been "desensitized to violence". Meanwhile, Ava's mum Leanne and older sister Mia stood arm in arm in the witness box as they read out statements to the court.
The latter is hoping to deliver talks in schools across the city highlighting the impact of knife crime. The 18-year-old said: “Since that evening, my life has come to a standstill. From the minute my sister was taken, I’ve been a shadow of my former loving sister.
"I have a picture of Ava which I kiss every day. It shouldn’t be a picture, it should be her.
“Every day I experience flashbacks and nightmares of that horrific night. The unnecessary, horrendous murder of my sister has really shocked and frightened me.
"My life as it was has changed. I miss my sister. The pain is never ending. The day my sister died is yesterday, today and forever."
Leanne said: “My beloved Ava dies all over again every morning I wake up. My Ava dies again every moment she’s not with us for the rest of my life.
“She was my life, the life and soul of the party. She was a happy, healthy child adored by her family. The light of my life was dimmed forever. Now I have nothing to live for."
Ava had travelled into town to see the Christmas lights switch-on on the night of her death. Leanne added: "I remember how excited she was for Christmas. Never could I imagine I would never see my beautiful baby alive again.
"My heart is broken. I will never hear her laughter or hold her in my arms.
"Precious memories are all I have left of my Ava. Laughter was not missing from our home as it is now, neither was happiness.
"We were once a happy family getting on with our lives. I was once outgoing, but I now dread each new day.
"All this horror was caused by an individual who insisted on recording Ava on his phone. She was 12 years old, a child.
"She had only gone to watch the lights being switched on for Christmas. How could we ever imagine this would lead to her death?"
Ava's mother also gave her "heartfelt thanks" to the people of Liverpool for their support following the murder.
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