Teen accused of Joshua Ingram murder 'sent boastful messages to impress friends'
A 16-year-old on trial for the stabbing murder of Joshua Ingram at Seaford station sent "fantasy and lies" on social media, his lawyer told Hove Crown Court.
Teen on trial for Seaford station stabbing 'was immature show-off', defence says
A 16-year-old accused of murdering Joshua Ingram at Seaford railway station in East Sussex sent social media messages that amounted to a "mix of fantasy, hyped-up teen exaggeration [and] straight-out lies", bbc.com reports from Hove Crown Court.
Defence barrister Colin Aylott KC told the jury his client was "an immature young man trying to impress his friends" — not a would-be killer — when the messages were composed in the months before the stabbing on 10 September.
The teen has denied murder but has pleaded guilty to manslaughter. The prosecution alleges he intended to cause "really serious harm" and is therefore guilty of murder. His defence argues the 16-year-old meant only to cause "some harm".
Among the messages read to the court was a Snapchat exchange in which the accused stated: "Josh will perish" if an unpaid debt was not settled, adding "That's a fact and he knows this" and "I'm ready to sit in a prison cell for 30 years over a £20 sheet [debt]."
Prosecutors allege the teenager and two co-accused — aged 17 and 15 — "plotted and planned" the attack over that £20 cannabis debt owed by Ingram, who was from Newhaven.
All three are charged with conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm with intent. The 15-year-old also faces a charge of assisting an offender; the 17-year-old has already pleaded guilty to that same offence. None of the defendants can be named due to their age.
Aylott told the jury that the central question is one of intent, not of the stabbing itself.
Defence counsel for the 15-year-old separately asked jurors to consider whether the messages reflected mere "bravado" rather than "definite agreement" to attack Ingram, and urged the court to view them in their proper context.
The trial at Hove Crown Court is ongoing.
Source: Google News IE — Crime (en)