Teenage boy who stabbed girl 10 times after she rejected his romantic advances spared jail

He pleaded guilty to wounding with intent, inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent and possession of a bladed article in a public place.

However, he was spared jail after a judge at Gloucester Crown Court said that prison was the “last place” for a “bright lad” like him, instead sentencing him to a 12-month referral order and a three-year restraining order, reports The Telegraph.

Newly released court transcripts reveal the boy, who cannot be identified because of his age, became obsessed with the girl at his school.

The 14-year-old then used fake social media accounts to message her after she rejected his advances in December 2025.

In March, he waited for the girl near the shop and asked her out.

When she once again turned him down, he followed her, with a knife in his pocket and stabbed her at least 10 times, inflicting cuts to her neck, hands and face, also stabbing a shopkeeper who tried to intervene.

Judge Ian Lawrie told the teenage offender: “You’re a bright lad; I’m going to impose a curfew.

“You’re not to contact, directly or indirectly, by any means, social media or otherwise, [the victim] and her mother, and also keep out of mischief.

“My own view is custody is the last place you should be.

“What I’m trying to do is find a sentence that’s best constructed to help you and give you support.”

After he admitted to the assault, the boy spent three months in Vinney Green, a secure unit in South Gloucestershire for 10 to 17-year-olds.

However, at an initial hearing in June, Judge Lawrie said he was “deeply unhappy” that the teenager had been sent to Vinney Green.

The young offender was then released on bail on an electronic tag, with an order that he stay at home between 6pm and 7am every day.

On the day he was released on bail, the boy did not return home until 1.30am, so officers could not fit the tag until the following day.

At the next court hearing, four days later, Judge Lawrie said: “We are dealing with a 14 year old. They tend to be a little bit temperamental.”

Judge Lawrie said the boy had a “behavioural dysfunctionality” that caused him “grave concern”, adding the attack was premeditated, persistent and terrifying.

He told the court: “The planning, the thought process, the carrying of the knife, and what I’ve seen on the CCTV, the actions which frankly stand out markedly as dangerous.”

A psychiatric report was commissioned, which suggested that the boy, who had no previous convictions and a good school attendance record, might have autism.

At the final court hearing in September, the judge told the court: “He has a number of issues and difficulties but not of a nature or an order that means that I take the view he’s a danger.”

The judge added: “He’s still young, and he’s capable of learning.”

The boy was issued a 12-month referral order, which was likely to involve the boy taking part in programmes to address his offending behaviour, on top of a three-year restraining order, to keep him away from the girl.

Addressing the boy, the judge said that if he complied with the conditions of the orders, he would not be brought back to court, adding: “In a way it is an element of give and take.”