Jury in Ava White murder trial retires to consider verdicts

The jury in the Ava White murder trial has retired to consider its verdicts. Schoolgirl Ava, 12, was stabbed in the neck in Liverpool city centre last November.

A 14-year-old boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, denies her murder and manslaughter in a trial at Liverpool Crown Court. Prosecutors say Boy A, from south Liverpool, knifed Ava after she argued with the teen about him filming her on Snapchat.

They allege he laughed and ran away after stabbing her in the neck, then ditched his flick knife, designer coat and mobile phone in an alleged 'cover up', and told lies to police including giving a 'false alibi' and suggesting another boy was responsible for her fatal injury.

High Court judge Mrs Justice Amanda Yip concluded her summing up of the case on Tuesday morning. She subsequently sent the 12 jurors out to consider their verdicts at 11.24am, reports the Liverpool Echo.

Boy A, who has admitted possessing an offensive weapon, accepts stabbing Ava, but says he 'didn't mean to' and was 'trying to get her away from me' in self-defence. He has told a jury he thought the schoolgirl was a boy, who might be armed, and feared she was going to 'batter' him.

Over the last two weeks the trial has heard Ava and her friends, aged 11 to 15, argued with Boy A and his friends - Boys B to D, aged 13 to 15 - about them filming her on Snapchat, when she was lying on the ground in Richmond Street, on the evening of November 25 last year.

Boy A shared one video on Snapchat. Prosecutors have said 'angry' Ava demanded they delete any videos and tried to grab Boy C's phone. The jury has heard two masked boys came over - Boys F and G - and told Boy C, 16, to delete a video. Boy A said they held a 'big knife' to Boy C's stomach