Joshua Hall murder: Harley Demmon, 16, jailed for 14 years

A 16-year-old boy who murdered a teenager by stabbing him at least six times has been jailed for a minimum of 14 years.

Harley Demmon attacked Joshua Hall, 17, at a sports ground in Cam, near Dursley, Gloucestershire, after meeting up to "sort out their differences".

The teenager, who was 15 at time and can only now be named, was sentenced at Gloucester Crown Court.

Joshua's mother, Kirsty Hall, said she can never forgive Demmon's actions.

The trial, held in October, heard that the confrontation was in relation to alleged comments made about a girl, and that Demmon had felt insulted by Joshua.

This led to them arranging to meet at the sports ground in the village of Cam on 16 April 2020.

After words were exchanged, there was a two-minute fight ending in Joshua being stabbed with a knife that Demmon had hidden in his waistband.

The attack almost severed Joshua's thumb from his hand, and penetrated his abdomen and the top of his arm.

He died from his injuries at Southmead Hospital in Bristol the following day.

During the sentencing Joshua's mother, Kirsty, made an emotional statement to the court.

"It took just one minute for our world as we knew it to blow up. My happy, smiley and loving best friend was never coming home," she said.

"Anger has no place in my heart - however I will never forgive or understand the actions that took my son away.

"The image of Josh stumbling around after being stabbed and saying to a friend 'I've been stabbed' in a small scared voice tortures me and I challenge any mother to think about that just for a second," she added.

Ms Hall finished by addressing Demmon, who can now be named after legal restrictions were lifted by a judge, saying that she hopes that one day he will "comprehend" the actions he took.

She told him: "We will never be the same people again because you took that knife and repeatedly used it in the most violent way you could think of."

She told him she did not accept the apology he made in court, and could not forgive him.

Sentencing Demmon, Mr Justice Chamberlain said: "There is nothing I can do to take away the pain you have inflicted on this family.

"They will have to live with it, but because of what you did it will never end."

Det Supt John Turner of Gloucestershire Police, said he wanted to highlight the dignity that Joshua's family had shown.

"The death of a young person in these circumstances has had a huge impact but there has been a continued sense of willingness from the community to engage with the police, which enabled the investigation team to understand and present what had happened to the jury," he said.

"This ultimately resulted in them reaching the guilty verdict within three hours and I hope that this will allow the Halls to have some form of closure in knowing that their son's killer is behind bars," he said.

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