An 18-year-old woman accused of murdering 16-year-old Chloe Dransfield allegedly threatened to stab her shortly before the teenager was killed during a confrontation in Leeds.
Leeds Crown Court heard that Kayla Smith sent messages warning that she intended to attack Chloe, including one sent to a friend approximately 18 minutes before the fatal encounter.
“I’m stabbing her,” Smith allegedly wrote. In another message to a cousin, she reportedly added: “I’m stabbing her, on my nana’s ashes.”
The court was told that the exchanges followed an argument involving Blake Dowling, 18, who had previously been in relationships with both girls.
Prosecutor Mark McKone KC said the prosecution believed the confrontation had been planned and that Smith was responsible for all five knife wounds inflicted on Chloe.
Dispute Over Blake Dowling Escalated Into Planned Fight
The court heard that tensions between Smith and Chloe had increased after Dowling began a relationship with the younger teenager.
Smith allegedly sent Dowling a message approximately two hours before Chloe’s death, writing: “Listen, I love you Blake. I will never find someone that I love like you. Please stop.”
In other exchanges, Smith allegedly boasted about being better in bed and threatened to assault Chloe, telling her: “I am going to batter you. Watch what I will do to you.”
During a separate FaceTime conversation overheard by Chloe’s friend, Smith allegedly threatened to stab her in the throat.
Chloe reportedly responded: “Try stabbing me in my throat, I’ll take it straight out your hand.”
While at Dowling’s mother’s home, Chloe also messaged Smith that she was tired of being threatened and accused her of continuing to have feelings for Dowling.
The court heard that Chloe later told a friend she was going to fight Smith and sent a photograph of herself travelling in a taxi.
Doorbell Footage Captures Moments Before Stabbing
Chloe travelled with Dowling to the property where Smith lived in a garden annexe at her grandfather’s bungalow in the Austhorpe area of Leeds.
The journey took place during the early hours of March 28, after the two girls had agreed to fight.
Jurors were shown footage from a neighbour’s Ring doorbell camera showing Chloe arriving at the property.
McKone said the recording captured Smith moving quickly across the pavement while holding something shiny. She was heard shouting: “Come on, big girl.”
The prosecution said Smith attacked Chloe with a kitchen knife measuring approximately 20 centimetres at 5.11am.
Chloe suffered three stab wounds to her back and two to her neck. A post-mortem examination found that one of the wounds, measuring 13 centimetres, penetrated her lung and was fatal.
Emergency Response Came 37 Minutes After Attack
Neighbours found Chloe seriously injured on the pavement in a large pool of blood and attempted to resuscitate her.
The court heard that approximately one minute after the stabbing, Smith’s grandfather, Geoff Smith, was recorded saying he was calling the police.
Smith allegedly responded: “You can’t ring the police, she’s dead.”
None of the three defendants called an ambulance before Geoff Smith made a call at 5.48am, 37 minutes after the attack, the jury was told.
Chloe was taken to hospital by ambulance but was pronounced dead at 6.40am.
Defendants Dispute Murder Allegations
Smith has admitted stabbing Chloe and causing the fatal injury, pleading guilty to manslaughter. However, she denies murder, with her defence maintaining that she did not intend to kill Chloe or cause her really serious harm.
Dowling, who was also 18 at the time of the incident, accepts taking Chloe to Smith’s home in a taxi while knowing that the two girls might fight. However, he denies knowing that Chloe would be seriously injured.
Archie Rycroft, 20, is accused of encouraging the violence by recording the attack on Smith’s mobile phone before the footage was deleted.
Rycroft accepts following Smith into the street but says he was only being nosy and denies filming the confrontation.
All three defendants deny murdering Chloe.
Police Find Defendants Inside Annexe After Attack
The court heard that when police officers arrived at the property, they found Rycroft and two other people inside the annexe with Smith.
The group were allegedly laughing and joking and inhaling nitrous oxide from balloons in front of officers.
Smith reportedly told police that she had neither seen nor heard anything about the incident.
The prosecution also presented evidence concerning the relationship between the teenagers and Dowling.
In a statement read to the court, Dowling’s mother, Zoe, said Smith had continued causing problems after her relationship with her son ended.
She said Smith had become jealous and obsessed with his relationship with Chloe.
Prosecutor Says Smith Accepts Delivering Fatal Wound
Opening the case, McKone told the jury that the prosecution’s position was that Smith inflicted all the knife injuries, including the wound that killed Chloe.
He said Dowling knew about the hostility between the two girls and that the confrontation was a pre-planned fight.
The prosecutor acknowledged that Smith accepted responsibility for stabbing Chloe but said the central issue in the murder allegation was whether she intended to kill the teenager or cause her really serious harm.
The trial at Leeds Crown Court is continuing.
