Teen pleads with grandfather not to call police after stabbing love rival in Leeds
An 18-year-old was recorded urging her grandfather not to call emergency services after stabbing a 16-year-old during an arranged fight in Austhorpe, Leeds.
CCTV footage shown to jurors at Leeds Crown Court captured an 18-year-old teenager urging her grandfather not to call emergency services after stabbing a 16-year-old girl during an arranged confrontation. The incident occurred in the early hours of 28 March in Austhorpe, Leeds, after the two girls and a male friend travelled by taxi to the teenager’s grandfather’s home.
The video shows the teenager, Kayla Smith, leaving a summer house with a knife and a male companion, Archie Rycroft, shouting at the victim, Chloe Watson Dransfield, "come on, big girl" and "I will stab you." The murder itself was not recorded, but jurors heard a male laugh shortly after the attack. Smith and Rycroft were later seen running back to the house.
Approximately one minute after the stabbing, Smith can be heard pleading with her grandfather, Geoff Smith, not to call 999, saying, "You can’t ring the police – she’s dead." Geoff Smith later called for an ambulance, which arrived 37 minutes after the attack. A neighbour performed CPR on the victim on the footpath. Chloe Watson Dransfield was taken to hospital and was pronounced dead at 6:40 a.m., about 90 minutes after being stabbed.
Smith, along with Blake Dowling, 18, and Archie Rycroft, faced murder charges. During the trial, Smith changed her plea to guilty after the prosecution opened its case. Dowling and Rycroft denied murder and manslaughter. The prosecution argued that Dowling organized the confrontation by arranging transport for the victim and that Rycroft encouraged the violence by accompanying Smith and attempting to film the incident.
Witnesses testified that Smith had previously threatened to stab the victim and that she made repeated threats over the phone. One friend reported hearing Smith say, "I’m gonna smash your head in… you better not be with no girls… Chloe better not be there," and later, "I’m gonna stab you in your throat."
The judge indicated that a life sentence would be mandatory for murder, with a minimum term to be set later. The trial is ongoing.