A BOY accused of fatally stabbing teenager Joshua Hall in Cam earlier this year sent or received 75 messages on his phone immediately after the attack, a jury was told today (Oct 20).

“The defendant Snap-chatted his girlfriend at 1.24pm that day saying ‘Babe, I’m going to prison’," alleged prosecutor James Dawes QC.

"She replied ‘Why, what are you on about?’.

Mr Dawes told Gloucester Crown Court “He received a message at 1.35pm which stated, ‘That helicopter is looking for you.'"

Mr Dawes said the defendant - who was 15 at the time - then made a voice call to 112 (the emergency services) which lasted for almost two minutes. The phone call was played to the jury.

The defendant told the call handler: “I have just stabbed somebody. I didn’t mean to do it.”

The youth, now 16, denies murdering Joshua on 16th April this year. The prosecution say Joshua suffered six stab wounds.

Mr Dawes told the jury there were other knife 'swipes' at Joshua which cut his clothing but did not penetrate his skin.

He said that at the time of the boy's call to the emergency services he admitted the stabbing Joshua but said he did not know why he had done it.

However, the boy changed his story when he gave a prepared statement after being charged with murder and he said that he had acted in self defence, said the prosecutor.

Mr Dawes went on to give the jury details of the defendant's numerous Snapchat messages and his call to the emergency number.

The jury heard the defendant tell the call handler that he ‘didn’t mean to do it’.

Shortly afterwards the teenager was arrested for the attempted murder of Joshua Hall.

The prosecutor added: “The defendant said to the arresting officer, ‘It was me, I did it okay' and he stated his name. 'I did it, I did it. I’m so sorry I didn’t mean to, honestly. Why did I do it?’.

The police asked the teenager where the knife was and he replied that it was near an alleyway near the playing field under a hedge. The police located the weapon and after an analysis the DNA on the handle matched the defendant and the blood on the knife was Joshua’s.

While the teenager was in custody he was told that Joshua had died and he was re-arrested for his murder.

He gave a no comment interview but made a prepared statement in which he said that he 'had no intention of using the knife. I merely wanted to frighten him'.

"It was clear he wanted a fight," he added.

"He came over to me and started punching me. He hit me two or three times before I pulled the knife out of my waistband.

“I had no intention of using the knife on him and I can only think his injuries were inflicted accidentally. I was defending myself.”

The prosecutor told the jury, however, that the comments the defendant made to the police on his arrest contradicted the statement he made after he had been charged with murder.

Mr Dawes suggested that the boy's meeting with Joshua was a pre-arranged confrontation to which the defendant took a knife and perhaps this gave 'a clue to his thinking when he left his house.'

He was the aggressor and Josh was unarmed, said Mr Dawes.

“The use of the knife was out of all proportion to the pushing and pulling in the scuffle. There were many stabs to his body. The wounds were consistent with somebody trying to defend themselves and not the aggressor.

“The defendant ran away and hid the knife.”

The youth denies murdering the 17-year-old and the trial continues.