Teenager convicted of manslaughter in Leeds stabbing over boyfriend, trial reveals details

Leeds Crown Court heard that Kayla Smith, 18, stabbed 16-year-old Chloe Watson-Dransfield to death during a fight over her former boyfriend, Blake Dowling, 18. Smith has pleaded guilty to manslaughter but denies murder. Both Dowling and 20-year-old Archie Rycroft, accused of filming the attack, have entered not-guilty pleas to murder and manslaughter.

Prosecutor Mark McKone KC told jurors that Smith threatened Chloe on the phone after learning she was with Dowling on March 27. On the night of March 28, Dowling arranged a taxi to take Chloe to Smith’s home in Austhorpe, where the two girls agreed to fight. Court footage showed Smith leaving a summer house at 5:10 a.m. in pyjamas, holding a knife, and approaching Chloe, who was later stabbed five times in the neck and back.

A friend on a Facetime call reported hearing Smith shout threats, including “I’m gonna stab you in your throat.” Ring-doorbell footage captured Smith urging the victim forward and saying she would stab her, though the actual stabbing was not recorded. Rycroft was seen walking behind Smith with a phone, and prosecutors allege he recorded the incident.

After the attack, Smith and Rycroft returned to the house. Smith’s grandfather, Geoff Smith, called the police, to which Smith replied, “You can’t ring the police, she’s dead.” An ambulance arrived 37 minutes later, but Chloe was pronounced dead at the hospital.

McKone said police observed Smith and Rycroft “laughing and joking” with friends and using nitrous oxide when arrested. Dowling denied knowledge that Chloe would be seriously harmed, while Rycroft claimed he followed Smith out of curiosity and did not see a knife. The prosecution argues that Dowling helped organise the violence and that Rycroft encouraged Smith’s actions by accompanying and attempting to film her. The trial is ongoing.