Schoolgirl Ava White asked friends not to leave her following Liverpool stabbing, court hears

Schoolgirl Ava White told her friends "don't leave me" as she was lying on the ground after being stabbed, a court has heard.

Ava, 12, was fatally injured in Liverpool city centre after a Christmas lights switch-on, on 25 November 2021.

A 14-year-old boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, denies her murder and manslaughter, but has admitted possessing an offensive weapon.

The jury in the trial of the teenager, known as Boy A, has heard pre-recorded evidence from friends who were with the schoolgirl when the stabbing happened.

A 15-year-old girl told police in an interview she thought the defendant had punched Ava to the neck so she ran after him, before returning to see Ava lying on the floor.

She said: "I remember her saying to us 'don't leave me'. That's the last words I heard out of her mouth."

She said the friends had been in the city centre when they noticed the defendant with three other boys filming Ava and asked them to delete the videos.

The witness claimed she had argued with the defendant.

She said: "He was going 'you scruff, you scruff' and calling me a s**g and all that."

Nick Johnson QC, defending, told Liverpool Crown Court the boy said that was not true.

The girl said the group of four boys had walked away but then the defendant shouted back to them "look at the state of youse" and Ava "flipped".

She said: "Obviously Ava was already angry and she wasn't going to sit there and let a boy speak to her like that."

The court heard police went to the home address of Boy A at 9.10pm, just over half an hour after Ava was stabbed.

In a statement, PC Michael Eccleston said his mother answered the door and rang Boy A but he refused to tell police where he was and hung up after speaking to PC Eccleston's colleague.

PC Eccleston said the defendant was arrested after he was seen walking down a street at about 10.30pm.

He said the boy attempted to get away from a police vehicle by sprinting past him but he blocked the boy's path with his body.

Home Office pathologist Dr Jonathan Medcalf said Ava died as a result of the stab wound to her neck, which was approximately five to six centimetres long and damaged her windpipe and jugular vein, causing catastrophic bleeding.

He said he believed a moderate degree of force was used.

He added: "I can't say it was severe but I can't say it was gentle. I don't think it was mild force, for example."

The court heard the blade of the knife measured seven and a half centimetres from tip to hilt.

The defendant denies murder and an alternative charge of manslaughter.

The trial continues