The teen searched up 'what happens if you kill...' after fleeing the scene
A 16-year-old boy has been found not guilty of the murder of a nine-year-old girl who died from a stab wound.
The teenager was cleared of both the murder and manslaughter of Aria Thorpe, who sustained a knife wound to her chest at home in Weston-super-Mare in Somerset last December.
The defendant, who appeared before Bristol Crown Court earlier today, cannot be identified due to his age.
Following the stabbing, the boy told a group of children her death was an "accident" after he left the property and went to Worle train station nearby.
The court heard the teenager picked up a knife from the kitchen and went into the living room to "scare" the nine-year-old, swerving the blade in a "ninja-style" way.
He then began to jab the knife towards Aria, which is when the knife accidentally caused the fatal stab wound, the jury heard.
Today, the jury said that the teenager was not guilty of both charges laid before him.
Recounting the horror incident, the boy told the court: "Then at some point I decided that I was going to try to make her flinch and scare her, to get a reaction.
The boy explained that Aria was in front of him while he was attempting to frighten the girl.
"She had almost taken a step forward but without taking a step forward because before she could, it happened," he continued.
"I don’t know what she was doing. The knife went into her. Then I pulled it out. I didn’t know what to do. She put her hand to her chest."
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A Home Office pathologist, Dr Amanda Jeffery, found the girl died from a single stab wound through her heart.
Aria fell to the floor, which is when the boy believed she had died, so in a "scared and panicked" state, he put the knife back into the sink.
Fleeing the scene, he failed to check on Aria, call neighbours for help or call emergency services.
At the station, he used another boy's phone to search up "what happens if you kill...".
A girl at the station called 999 and told police, who swiftly descended on the scene, about what had been said. The boy hurried onto a train which police halted before he was arrested, later telling authorities he felt "horrible".
Dr Jeffery told the court Aria would have died "very swiftly" from the wound, which was between 7.5 and 8cm deep.
Before she died, the nine-year-old went to school and a dance class, after which her mother collected Aria at around 4.30pm.
They made mini-pizzas together before Tori Hull went to work an evening shift.
Ollie Sheppard, who was a family friend staying for a short time at the property, returned there at around 6pm, where he discovered Aria on the floor.
He called 999 but, despite paramedics descending onto the scene, Aria was pronounced dead at 6.58pm.
In the court today, members of the public gallery, including Aria's mother, were instructed not to show any emotion.
When the verdicts were returned, some people left the court quietly.