Leeds teen pleads guilty to stabbing love rival to death after inhaling laughing gas
Kayla Smith, 18, changed her plea to guilty in the stabbing murder of 16-year-old Chloe Dransfield in Leeds. She faces life custody at sentencing.
Leeds teen admits murdering love rival in pre-dawn stabbing frenzy
Kayla Smith, 18, has changed her plea from not guilty to guilty in the murder of 16-year-old Chloe Dransfield, stabbed five times outside her Leeds home in the early hours of March 28, 2026, Toronto Sun Crime reports. Smith was told by the court that she "faces custody for life" when she is sentenced at a later date.
The two girls had been feuding over the same boy — 18-year-old Blake Dowling — whom both had been seeing simultaneously. Prosecutors described the killing as pre-planned, with tensions between the pair having escalated through increasingly hostile text messages in the hours before the attack.
Just 18 minutes before the stabbing, Smith texted a friend: "I'm stabbing her." Shortly before striking, she appeared to inhale nitrous oxide — laughing gas — from a balloon. CCTV then captured her striding toward Dransfield screaming "come on big girl" before slashing her five times in the back and neck.
"The prosecution say that this was a pre-planned fight. The prosecution say that Kayla Smith was the person who inflicted all the blows, including the fatal blow with a knife," prosecutor Mark McKone told the court.
Earlier that morning, Smith had left her summer house at 5:10 a.m. wearing pyjamas, CCTV footage showing her striding quickly with her right hand raised and holding something shiny. A third defendant, Archie Rycroft, 20, filmed the attack on his phone. The trio subsequently fled to Smith's home.
In the exchange of messages leading up to the murder, Smith had boasted about her relationship with Dowling and warned Dransfield: "I am going to batter you. Watch what I will do to you." She also threatened to stab her in the throat. Dransfield replied defiantly: "Try stabbing me in my throat, I'll take it straight out your hand."
Smith also sent an emotional message to Dowling in the lead-up to the killing: "Listen, I love you, Blake. I will never find someone that I love like you. Please stop."
Prosecutors told the court that Dowling drove Smith to the scene specifically for the purpose of a fight, knowing there was bad blood between the two girls. "Blake Dowling had been in a relationship with the deceased, Chloe; and Blake had also been in a relationship with the defendant, Kayla Smith. Blake knew of the bad feelings between the two females," McKone said.
After the stabbing, Smith's grandfather, with whom she lived, discovered what had happened and said he would call police. Smith reportedly responded: "You can't ring the police, she's dead." He called for an ambulance 37 minutes after the attack.
Officers who arrived at the scene found Smith and Rycroft "laughing and joking" with friends and inhaling nitrous oxide. Dowling told detectives he had no idea Chloe would come to serious harm.
Prosecutors further alleged that Rycroft "deliberately encouraged Kayla Smith to be violent by walking with her to the fight, and by trying to film her using violence and by providing support if needed." Rycroft told investigators he had not seen Smith carrying a knife.
While Smith has admitted to the killing, she maintains that murder was not her intention. Dowling and Rycroft both deny murder and manslaughter. Their trial continues.
Source: Toronto Sun Crime