Witness says girl was face down and bleeding after stabbing, court hears

A family friend who arrived at the Lime Close home in Weston-super-Mare found nine-year-old Aria Thorpe face down and covered in blood, after first assuming she was "messing around" because the house looked untidy and school bags were blocking access to the kitchen door and cupboard under the stairs. He told jurors he reached the property at 18:03 GMT on 15 December 2025, realised something was seriously wrong only when he saw blood on Aria’s arm and school top, then phoned her mother, called 999 and tried CPR before paramedics arrived. Aria was pronounced dead at the scene.

At Bristol Crown Court, a 16-year-old boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, denies murder and manslaughter over the killing. Prosecutors say the pair had been "playfighting" before Aria moved towards the knife, and the court has heard that the defendant later told others he had "accidentally stabbed her with a really big knife."

The timeline presented to the court has placed the teenager away from the house within minutes of the attack. Jurors heard he left the scene at about 17:55, went to Worle railway station and spent around 12 minutes speaking to several young people he knew from school. While using one of their phones, he searched what would happen if he killed someone, before being arrested on a train. Police said he was located at Worle railway station and detained by officers after that search came to light.

Aria died from a single stab wound to the chest. An inquest opening heard she was pronounced dead at 6.58pm, underlining how little time passed between the attack, the emergency response and the confirmation that she could not be saved.

Her family has described her as a "beautiful soul", "happy-go-lucky, full of light and joy", and said their hearts were broken in a way they never imagined possible. As the case continues in Bristol, the evidence has focused on the minutes that mattered most: when adults realised the severity of the injury, how quickly help was summoned and what the defendant did after leaving the scene.