Holly Newton: Murder-accused boy retracts angry stabbing admission

But on the fifth day of his cross-examination by prosecutor David Brooke KC, the boy said it was “true” he was “angry” with Holly when he attacked her.

Mr Brooke asked if the boy was angry Holly had been “horrible” to him, to which the youth replied: “Yes probably.”

“I’m saying that actually you did hurt Holly and you did that deliberately because you were angry,” Mr Brooke said.

An intermediary assisting the boy clarified he understood the prosecutor meant the attack on Holly was “on purpose” because he was angry.

Having shown he understood, the youth said “probably”, and when asked by Mr Brooke if that meant yes, the boy said: “Yes.”

When he was being arrested, he told police officers he had meant to kill himself but “it went too far”, the court heard.

Mr Brooke said: “Is that what happened? You may have gone thinking about killing yourself but when she was horrible to you it went too far, you hurt her instead?”

The boy replied: “Yes.”