A 15-year-old boy who stabbed another teenager on the way home from school has been found guilty of murder.
Alfie Lewis, 15, was stabbed through the heart “in full view” of students leaving a primary school in Leeds last November.
A post-mortem found the fatal injury was a 5.5-inch deep wound that punctured Alfie's heart.
The teenager, who denied murder, said that he was scared he was about to be attacked when he pulled out the 14-cm knife which he brought from home.
Tributes left on a bench on Broadgate Lane, Horsforth, following the death of 15-year-old boy Alfie Lewis
PA
A jury of five men and seven women at Leeds Crown Court convicted him of the offence and he will be sentenced on 21 June.
The judge, Justice Cotter, told him: "You have been found guilty of murder.
"There is only one sentence I can pass. What I have to determine is how many years you will be detained before you are able to be released."
The boy, who cannot be named, told the jury that he was frightened of Alfie following two incidents which took place in the months before.
The latter of these happened on Halloween when, according to the teenager, he walked past Alfie’s house with a bag of fireworks and Alfie said to him: "Give me the bag or something worse than last time is going to happen."
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The 15-year-old said that, when he returned to school after half-term, he decided to take a knife from the kitchen drawer to protect himself. He said he swung the knife at Alfie on November 7 to keep him away, adding: "I was just trying to protect my own life."
Craig Hassall KC said all the witnesses who saw what happened outside St Margaret’s Primary School in Town Street, Horsforth gave statements that were "consistent".
He added: "None of them suggest that Alfie was in any way the aggressor, none of them suggest it was Alfie that attacked [the defendant].
"None of the witnesses heard Alfie shouting at or threatening [the defendant]. Not even [the defendant] says Alfie shouted at or threatened him."
A jury of five men and seven women at Leeds Crown Court convicted him of the offence
Wikimedia Commons
A post-mortem found the fatal injury was a 5.5-inch deep wound that punctured Alfie's heart
PA
Hassall said some witnesses "describe Alfie trying in vain to defend himself from [the defendant's] knife".
He said witnesses remember Alfie looking "surprised and shocked" and saying to the defendant: "What are you doing?" as the incident unfolded.
The prosecutor said: "Alfie did not get as far as meeting any of his friends that day.
"He was approached by (the defendant), and stabbed twice – once in the chest and once in the leg.
"He collapsed and died in the road close to the primary school in full view of scores of pupils leaving school and the people who were waiting to collect them."