Teenage boy accused of stabbing girl at school wrote about his ‘hatred for women’, court told

A teenage boy accused of the attempted murder of a girl who he stabbed in the back at school had written in a note about his “hatred for women”, a court has heard.

Prosecutor Christopher Paxton KC told jurors they would hear evidence about the boy’s “obsessive and dangerous interest in killers and killing”.

The barrister, opening the prosecution case at King’s Lynn Crown Court on Wednesday, said the boy was 15 at the time of the incident at Thorpe St Andrew School near Norwich.

He said that on March 11 the defendant “went to school not to learn but to kill, taking with him a kitchen knife which he used to stab” a 15-year-old girl “in the back”.

He said the attack, in a corridor in the morning, was captured by CCTV at the school, and described it as a “knife strike delivered, we say, with an intention to kill”.

The prosecutor said the defendant, now aged 16, was “dressed in black, masked up and tooled up with a kitchen knife, striking down into (the girl’s) back when she was defenceless and vulnerable”.

He said the boy was arrested by police and “remained silent” in interview.

Mr Paxton said that by “sheer good fortune” the girl was discharged from hospital the following day.

He told jurors that during the trial they would hear evidence about notes in which he “speaks of his hatred for women”.

Mr Paxton said a “self-generated video” was found on the defendant’s phone depicting American serial killers Edmund Kemper and Ted Bundy alongside a third male.

He said the 17-second clip was created by the defendant using an app and “we say glorifies two serial killers and has them dancing over a still image of the globe”.

Mr Paxton said there was an image of fictional serial killer Paul Spector, from BBC TV show The Fall, with “me btw” written by it.

“As you will see, this character Paul Spector appears to have inspired (the defendant) in his preparation for his action at school on March 11,” Mr Paxton said.

He also made reference to a saved video from the TV show Dexter, “about a serial killer”, and to a saved image of the serial killer Steve Wright.

He said a “handwritten list of names” was found which “has a heading, rather ominously… called ‘victims’ with a question mark”.

The prosecutor said that in a note written before the attack the defendant said “I really want to do it, really bad, I hate having to wait, I hate it, but I have to wait”.

“I’ve already got a good idea, tomorrow or Thursday or next week. That’s it.

“I want at least two, maybe three, I would be very proud of five.”

He said the defendant wrote of a “plan, attack on Thorpe St Andrew”.

It continued: “Motive = misanthropy, misogyny, suicide, bullying. Weapon = knife x2? Death = 2+ hopefully, injuries a lot hopefully.”

In another note, Mr Paxton said, the defendant wrote last year: “The idea of violence or possibly even murder sparks something in me.

“I don’t know what it is or what it means either but I think I like the idea of it.

“The idea and look of it inspires me.

“Maybe one day I will even take my own action of it.”

He said the boy had also written that he had “seen killers being admired, I want admiration”.

Another note said: “Hate is all you need. Hate is life. Hate is the strongest emotion humans exist with. Love does nothing.”

The defendant, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, denies attempted murder.

Mr Paxton told jurors the boy “does accept… that he intended to stab (the girl) and he accepts he intended to cause really serious harm”, and “also pleaded guilty to having a knife that he used in the attack”.