Teen guilty of attempted murder of 16-year-old boy

A 16-year-old boy has been found guilty of attempting to murder another youth of the same age.

The victim was found by police with injuries to his throat and chest in Holbeach, Lincolnshire last July, jurors at Lincoln Crown Court heard.

The youth previously admitted a charge of unlawful wounding but denied attempted murder and wounding the other boy with intent to cause him grievous bodily harm.

He was remanded into secure local authority care and is due to be sentenced on 3 March.

The court previously heard the victim was left for dead after the other youth carried out a violent attack on a piece of land close to William Stukeley primary school.

The victim was discovered with wounds to his throat and chest after police were called to the scene during the early hours of 28 July.

Stuart Lody, prosecuting, said the boy was wounded after he passed out from drinking vodka which was bought by an adult from a local shop.

The defendant, who cannot be named due to his age, had claimed his last memory was placing the other boy on the ground near a red bench after sharing the vodka with him and a teenage girl.

However, the jury was told the boy had made a video call to another teenage girl from the bench in which he could be seen holding an unbroken beer bottle and also made a threat to slit the other boy's throat.

The court heard the defendant had a history of being referred to mental health services and carried out a previous assault on a friend which he said he could not remember.

The jury took less than three hours to return a guilty verdict following a six-day trial.

Judge Simon Hirst told the boy: "You have been found guilty by the jury of attempted murder.

"The sentence is one of custody. The only issue is length and you will find that out on 3 March," he added.

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