Teenage Boy, 16, Found Not Guilty By Jury In Bristol For Murder And Manslaughter Of 9-Year-Old Aria Thorpe

A teenage boy has been found not guilty of both the murder and manslaughter of nine-year-old Aria Thorpe, who died after being stabbed on December 15, 2025, in Weston-super-Mare, North Somerset.

The boy, who was 15 at the time and cannot be named due to legal protections, told the court that he picked up a 21cm kitchen knife to “scare” Aria and make her flinch.

He demonstrated to the court that he was waving the knife in a “ninja-style” way and jabbing it toward her as if he were fencing.

He stated that as he leaned forward, Aria simultaneously moved toward the knife, causing the blade to accidentally enter her chest.

He said the knife “accidentally went into Aria.”

At this point, the boy panicked, put the knife back in the sink, and fled to Worle Railway Station. His mum had taken away his phone as punishment after he was expelled from school, and thus he says he was unable to call 999.

At the station, he told other children what happened and borrowed a phone to search “what happens if you kill someone?”.

A girl at the station then called 999 and the boy was apprehended by police on a train.

The incident took place while Aria’s mum, Victoria Hull, was away working an evening waitressing shift to earn extra money for Christmas. Aria was found face down in the living room by a lodger, Ollie Sheppard, who returned from work and immediately called emergency services. By then, it was too late.

People are now struggling to understand how the jury in Bristol came to a ‘not guilty’ verdict on both counts.

It does seem outrageous and people have the right to ask questions, but at the end of the day, he was acquitted by a jury. Unless we were in that courtroom, we’re not going to know the full story or the intricacies of the defence arguments.

Having said that, from the boy’s retelling of the “accidental” stabbing, it literally does sound like manslaughter. So it’s baffling trying to work out how the jury agreed this boy should face no legal consequences whatsoever.

Still, as insane as it sounds, that’s the point of having a jury – to look at the details and the context and the grey areas and everything else, and come to a just outcome. For Aria’s family, I doubt it feels that way.

RIP Aria Thorpe and thoughts with her friends and family.