Boy, 16, who stabbed man on night out jailed for life for murder

The defendant, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was convicted of the murder of 21-year-old Harry Burkett following a trial at Chelmsford Crown Court last month.

Mr Burkett, who was from Grays, had arranged to meet up with friends in the Essex seaside town on Saturday, September 11, 2021.

He and three other friends headed into town for a night out but parted company after he was denied entry to a nightclub, having forgotten his ID.

Mr Burkett and another man walked into town where they started talking to a young woman and man who were local to the area.

Shortly afterwards, they were joined by friends of the woman and man and initially, everyone appeared to be getting on.

It is unclear what happened next, but it is thought that a disagreement took place between Mr Burkett and one other, which led to a chase.

Mr Burkett was confronted by the defendant in Orwell Road, where he was stabbed with a knife.

He managed to escape but collapsed in Station Road at the junction with Rosemary Road, where he was found by two passers-by who gave first aid until the emergency services arrived.

Mr Burkett soon became unresponsive and died shortly afterwards in hospital in the early hours of Sunday, September 12.

A post mortem found Mr Burkett's cause of death was a single stab wound and a murder investigation was launched by Essex Police's Major Crime Department.

After hours of viewing of the town centre CCTV cameras, detectives pieced together the movements of Mr Burkett and his friend, with the footage capturing the moment he was stabbed.

Detectives located the suspect at an Ipswich address and arrested him on September 15.

The suspect was charged with murder and possession of an offensive weapon, remanded in custody and appeared at Chelmsford Youth Court two days later.

He denied murdering Mr Burkett, claiming self-defence, but was convicted at trial.

The teenager received no separate penalty for a charge of possession of an offensive weapon.