Murder accused haunted by teen's death, court told

A teenager accused of a fatal stabbing has said that the death of 16-year-old Joshua Ingram "haunts" him.

The prosecution at Hove Crown Court has said the boy was stabbed to death at Seaford railway station in East Sussex last September over a £20 drug debt.

A 16-year-old boy is on trial charged with murder, which he denies. He has pleaded guilty to an alternative charge of manslaughter.

He is also accused, along with two other boys - aged 17 and 15 - of conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm with intent, which the defendants, who cannot be named for legal reasons, deny.

The 15-year-old also denies a charge of assisting an offender, which the 17-year-old has pleaded guilty to.

The murder accused 16-year-old boy told the court on Friday that he did not mean to badly hurt Ingram, but only to nick him with his knife.

"I've been in prison for 10 months and every day I think about it," he said.

"It haunts me. I never expected it to turn out the way it did. Every day I think about him, think about his family."

The 16-year-old also told the jury that he purchased the weapon online for about £30 in September 2024 as "a novelty item, an accessory".

"I never bought it thinking it would be used to harm anyone," he said.

The court heard that he "didn't look at it really as a weapon" but carried it everywhere and thought it was cool.

Colin Aylott KC, defending, said: "In the year you'd been carrying it, had you ever produced it in public before?"

The boy said: "Never sir."

He told the court that Snapchat messages leading up to Ingram's death discussing attacking him were bravado.

In one, which referenced a debt owed by Ingram, the murder accused said: "I will knock this guy's head off, it's been weeks."

In another message, the murder accused said: "Josh will perish if I don't get my money."

He told the court that he was not being serious, adding: "To my understanding, the word perish means turn to dust."

He told the jury that other messages making references to guns and violence were him "trying to look like the big man, when in reality, I'm not".

He dubbed the messages "make-believe, complete fantasy".

The case continues.

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