Teenager not guilty of killing nine-year-old Aria Thorpe
The jury heard he had been expelled from school for disruptive behaviour and truancy hours before Aria’s death, and that his mother had taken away his phone as a punishment.
He said that without his phone, he was unable to call 999.
Aria was found face down on the floor of her home shortly after 18:00 GMT by Ollie Sheppard, who was temporarily lodging at the house.
Sheppard described the house as being “silent” and “very eerie” when he arrived. ”At first I thought she was messing around” he told the court, before he realised Aria’s school shirt was covered in blood.
Emergency services stopped trying to resuscitate the nine-year-old at 18:58.
Aria’s mother, Victoria Hull, said the last time she had seen her daughter alive she had been eating mini-pizzas in front of the TV in the living room.
“Aria seemed bubbly and happy because she had a good dance class,” Hull said.
The girl’s mother then headed out to work, where she was doing evening shifts to earn extra money for Christmas.
Hull said the last words which passed between them were “see you after work mummy”, to which she replied: “See you after work, love you.”