Boy accused of Ava White murder tells court he just wanted to frighten her away

A teenage boy accused of murdering Ava White has told a court he thought she was a boy who might have a weapon and "jump" him. Ava, 12, was knifed in the neck after an argument in Liverpool city centre.

A 14-year-old boy denies her murder and manslaughter. Boy A, from South Liverpool, who cannot be named for legal reasons, accepts stabbing Ava. Today he told a jury he thought she was going to "batter" him and told the court "I promise, I didn’t mean to hit her", the Liverpool Echo reports.

Liverpool Crown Court has heard he ran away after the stabbing, in School Lane, at around 8.35pm on November 25 last year. This morning he gave evidence under questioning by his lawyer, Nick Johnson, QC.

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Boy A said he was walking through town with three friends, Boys B, C and D. They came across a friend of Ava's, Boy J, in Richmond Street who was "swaying" and seemed "quite drunk".

He said they saw Ava and others "messing around", with Ava lying on the ground, and he filmed it and put it on his private Snapchat story.

Boy A said Ava pointed at him and told him to delete the video, before she "ran back and went and got all her other mates and then they call came up". He said "they were all just being like cheeky".

He said Ava asked his friend Boy C whether they had videos, before he heard one of two masked boys say to Boy C: "Delete the f***ing video now or I'm gonna stab you." He added: "That's when I tried to pull him [Boy C] away."

Boy A said he didn't see a knife but he was "backing off" and Ava got "in me face" saying "delete the video". He said Ava turned to a friend and said: "Shall we just jump him now cos I