Killer teen who adopted 'gangster personality' jailed

A teenager who adopted a "gangster personality" has been jailed for at least 14 years for the murder of a 16-year-old boy over a £20 cannabis debt.

Joshua Ingram was attacked with a 19cm (7.5 inch) combat-style knife at Seaford railway station in East Sussex on 10 September, 2025.

At Hove Crown Court on Friday, Joshua's killer, who cannot be named due to his age, was told he must serve a minimum term of 14 years, and will be on licence for the rest of his life.

Sentencing the teenager, Judge Mr Justice Bourne said: "You know what you did was utterly appalling. Josh was a popular young man with his life in front of him. He did nothing to deserve having his life taken away."

The judge said Joshua's killer, now 17, viewed the 19cm (7.5 Inch) knife he bought online as an "accessory, something to boast about".

He said: "Perhaps it made you feel like a big man?

"What this demonstrates is that the knife was horribly dangerous. It took Josh's life away, and your life."

The court heard that in June 2025, the attacker sent a message on Snapchat using an expletive and homophobic language to say Joshua owed him "a £20 sheet".

A message from the teenager which was read to the court said "Josh will perish" if he didn't pay a debt, adding: "That's a fact and he knows this."

Describing the murder as "impulsive", the judge said the messages showed a person adopting a "sort of gangster personality".

He said: "I'm sure talk of guns was just a fantasy. Whatever you meant, talk of getting your own back on Josh, unfortunately came true."

The teenager had previously admitted an alternative charge of manslaughter.

In a victim impact statement read to the court, Joshua's mother, Yvette Bullen, said: "We are the ones who will suffer the life sentence.

"Nothing we can say can truly describe what it means to lose our child especially in the violent way we lost Josh."

Telling the court that her son's life was "worth so much more than £20", Bullen described what how she saw Joshua "on a stretcher" after he had been attacked.

"Next time I saw him was in the back of an ambulance with wires still attached - something no parents should ever have to see," she said.

"We couldn't even touch him. He was a crime scene."

Det Ch Insp Paul Stanley, senior investigating officer in the case, said that while "justice" has been served, "there will be no celebration for Joshua Ingram's family as they continue to mourn their devastating loss".

"Joshua's life was tragically cut short in an attack that can only be described as vicious and cowardly," he added.

Two other teenagers, aged 17 and 15, were sentenced to a youth rehabilitation order with one-year of supervision after being convicted of assisting an offender.

Applications from the press to lift the anonymity of the teenager will be decided at a later date.

Follow BBC Sussex on Facebook, on X, and on Instagram and listen to BBC Radio Sussex on Sounds. Send your story ideas to southeasttoday@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp us on 08081 002250.