Image source, Family handoutAria Thorpe suffered a single knife wound to the chest
A teenage boy has been found not guilty of killing a nine-year-old girl in her home.
The 16-year-old, who cannot be named due to his age, was on trial accused of murder and manslaughter following the death of Aria Thorpe. A jury returned verdicts of not guilty for both charges at Bristol Crown Court earlier.
A pathologist previously told the court Aria died of a single stab wound to her chest at her home in Weston-super-Mare on 15 December 2025.
After her death, the nine-year-old’s family paid tribute to her “lively and bubbly” personality.
The accused had told jurors he and Aria had been playfighting when she moved towards him and the knife he was holding went into her chest.
“I was going to try and make her flinch, so I leaned forward like I was fencing,” he said.
His defence barrister, Andrew Langdon KC, told the jury the teenager had “made the worst decision of his life” but did not intend to kill or cause harm to the nine-year-old.
After Aria suffered the fatal injury, the 16-year-old left the house and headed for Worle Railway Station. He said he left because he got “scared” and “panicked”.
The jury heard he had been expelled from school for disruptive behaviour and truancy hours before Aria’s death, and that his mother had taken away his phone as a punishment.
He said that without his phone, he was unable to call 999.
Aria was found face down on the floor of her home shortly after 18:00 GMT by Ollie Sheppard, who was temporarily lodging at the house.
Sheppard described the house as being “silent” and “very eerie” when he arrived. ”At first I thought she was messing around” he told the court, before he realised Aria’s school shirt was covered in blood.
Emergency services stopped trying to resuscitate the nine-year-old at 18:58.
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