Teen guilty of murdering Somerset schoolboy Charley Bates in argument over £20 debt

A teenager has been found guilty of murdering a Somerset schoolboy after an argument over an alleged £20 debt.

Charley Bates, who was 16, was killed by 19-year-old Joshua Delbono during a fight in a Radstock car park in July last year.

Delbono admitted stabbing Charley, but denied murder instead claiming he was acting in self-defence to protect his group of friends.

A jury has now found him guilty of murder after a two-week trial at Bristol Crown Court. He was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 21 years.

During the trial, the court heard the stabbing followed a fight between the teenagers' two groups of friends in the car park at around 6.30pm on 31 July.

Two cars pulled into the car park and an argument involving Charley and two men in a car broke out. The court heard it was over an apparent £20 debt.

The argument escalated into a fight and Delbono, who was the driver of one of the cars, got out of the vehicle and stabbed Charley. The pair did not know each other.

Delbono, who was 18 at the time, then drove to Shearwater Lake where he threw away the knife and burnt some of his clothes before returning to his mother's home in Frome.

Delbono's mother then made a 999 call to police, telling the call hander "my son's killed someone".

• Listen to the 999 call made by Joshua Delbono's mum after he'd killed Charley

The call handler asked Delbono's mum where the incident happened and she replied saying: "Radstock. He's just come back and I've found out. He's in my house now but I can't let him go anywhere."

When asked by the call handler whether her son knew she was making the call, his mother said: "Yes. I've told him I've got to do it."

Joshua Delbono admitted to stabbing the teenager on the same call but said he didn't know where the knife was as he had "launched it into the air".

Detective Chief Inspector Mark Almond from the Major Crime Investigation Team at Avon and Somerset Police said: "For much of this trial, Joshua Delbono has been arguing that he did stab Charley but it was in a means to defending his friend.

"One of the lessons for young people is around the dangers of carrying knives. Nationally we see that it is a problem and I think every youth who carries a knife, that creates a problem.

"But Josh Delbono stepped into a fight that wasn't involving any kind of weapons. He bought a knife into the mix and someone lost their life and now he will spend a number of years in jail."

Joshua Delbono is due to be sentenced at 2pm on 11 April.