Josh Hall: Full court report as teen killer Harley Demmon gets 14 years

During the sentencing, the judge announced he was lifting an anonymity order in place under section 45 of the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act.

This followed submissions from members of the press that it was in the public interest to do so, meaning Harley Demmon can now be named. 

A mum whose 16 year old son was fatally stabbed by another teenager looked directly at her son's killer in court yesterday and told him "I do not accept your apology and I will never forgive you for the actions you took."

Kirsty Hall's words to Harley Demmon, 16, who murdered her son Josh Hall in April last year, came at the end of a moving statement she made from the witness box at Gloucester Crown Court telling how devastated she and her family have been by his death.

Mrs Hall turned to Demmon - who was just 15 at the time of the murder - and told him "You changed the course of my family's life forever.  Josh's younger brother is now an only child and he has a lifetime ahead of him without his brother.

"We will never ever be the same people again because you took that knife and you repeatedly used it in the most violent way you could think of."

She described Demmon's attack on her son as 'premeditated savagery' and she called for the court to pass a sentence which took a stand against the increasing amount of knife crime among young people.

Demmon, of Church rd, Cam, nr Dursley, was sentenced to detention for life by Mr Justice Chamberlain, who told him he will have to serve a minimum of 14 years in custody before he can be considered for parole. 

He will be subject to recall to custody for the rest of his life if he breaches the terms of parole, the judge said.

During the two hour hearing Mrs Hall had told of the agonising 11 hours she and her husband Michael Hall spent in hospital alongside their son praying for his survival but then giving the go-ahead for his life support machine to be turned off.

She said she lay on the bed alongside Josh in the hospital as he passed away and told him "You are hurt so badly Josh and you will not come back from this. Go and be with your sister. I promise I will be OK. Don't worry about me."

Mrs Hall went on to tell the judge that she now cannot bear to have the air conditioning on in her car because it sounds like one of the ITU ventilator pumps that were keeping Josh alive.

"I have not had one night's sleep since this happened," she said. "I cry in my car every single day. I pull up at work, wipe away my tears and put my make up on to face the day."

Demmon had been convicted by a jury on November 3rd last year after a two week trial.

Prosecutor James Dawes QC reminded the court today that on April 16th last year, just before 1.20pm, Demmon met up with Josh at a sports field in Cam.

There had been bad feeling from Demmon towards Josh for some days because of a 'perceived insult' - but in fact it was a misunderstanding because someone else, not Josh, had been responsible for the alleged sexually insulting comment about Demmon's sister, he said.

"Josh had been aware how Harley felt and after some days of social media communications they agreed to meet.

"He was aware there could be insults thrown and even fisticuffs. But he did not know what was about to unfold - that Harley Demmon produced a knife he had concealed in his waistband. 

Those watching could not have known what he was about to do either because they did not know he had a knife in his waistband.

"Harley Demmon took out the knife, which was incredibly sharp, and used it to stab Josh. Josh died in hospital in the early hours of the next morning.

"When Demmon was arrested he admitted he had stabbed Josh but said he did not know why he had done it. But why he did it is all too clear.

He had worked himself up before he left home and taken the knife with him. When the pulling and pushing began he pulled out the knife and stabbed Josh to death.

"When he was arrested he attempted to avoid responsibility for what he had done. After he had thought about it he made up a story to the police that he had used the knife in self defence and that Josh had been stabbed accidentally."

Josh suffered at least four stab wounds.

"One stab wound nearly severed Josh's thumb. Another one injured his left arm. One to his abdomen went through his liver and a major artery and lodged between two vertebra, making a mark on the inner aspects of his thoracic and lumbar vertebrae" said the prosecutor.

"Josh was only 17. Harley was 15. Although he was younger they were of similar height and build.

"They were only vaguely known to each other but in the days before Josh died Harley had decided to confront Josh because of the perceived insult to him. It was an insult which had in fact been delivered by someone else and not him."

After Mr Dawes had finished outlining the case, Josh's mother stepped into the witness box to read out her emotive statement explaining the effects of his tragic death.

She told how her world fell apart when she opened her front door to the police that day and instantly knew what they were about to tell her.

"It took one minute for the world as I knew it to blow up into a million pieces," she said. "I knew my best friend was never coming home."]

She said she felt a strong sense of regret that when he said 'usual goodbye' to her that morning she had not pulled him back in through the front door and locked it to keep him safe.

In hospital, she said, she kept telling him he could not leave her.

Mrs Hall fought back tears as she went on "My poor broken baby was lying on a bed surrounded by tubes.  In many ways I shall be in that room with him forever."

She went on "Anger is not on my heart but I shall never forgive or understand the actions that took my son away."

She added "We live in rural Gloucestershire where knife crime is extremely uncommon and is frankly not heard of in Cam and Dursley.

"Now is the time to stand up and say this cannot happen again. The only way to do that is for a sentence that reflects what happened and it must actively deter young people from carrying a knife. This is the court's opportunity to take a stand against it."

Turning to Demmon again, Mrs Hall said "I hope you will comprehend the actions you took on that day.  You changed the course of my family's life forever.

"Joshua's younger brother is now an only child and he has a lifetime ahead of him without his brother. We will never ever be the same people again because you took that knife and you repeatedly used it in the most violent way you could think of.  I do not accept your apology and I will never forgive you for the action you took on that day."

She was referring to an apology made by Demmon during his evidence in the trial last November when he told the family that if he could turn back time, he would.

A statement from Mrs Hall's husband was also read to the court by the prosecutor.

In it Michael Hall told how he knelt and kissed Josh in the hospital intensive care unit and was shocked to see him looking "so fragile, so small, so entirely broken.'

He said the 'howl of pain' his wife let out when Josh died and the way she crumpled up and fell to the floor in anguish would stay in his memory forever.

He also spoke of the devastating effect Josh's death had on their six year old son who had told staff at his primary school that he wanted to die so he could go to heaven and be with Josh.

Edward Brown, QC, defending, told the court "Nothing I say and nothing the numerous good character references say about this young man are in any way intended to diminish the terrible pain that the Hall family are suffering.

"We accept the terrible results of the defendant's actions.

"No-one could be unaffected by the heartfelt statements and comments from Joshs parents. "

He pointed out that Demmon was of previous good character with no criminal convictions or cautions - something which he said was unusual in such cases.

He submitted that the 11 references provided for Demmon from character witnesses showed there was a 'considerate side' to him.

"He is horrified by what he has done," said the barrister. "It is very different from many cases where young defendants almost celebrate their achievement in killing someone."

Mr Brown said the probation officer who wrote a pre-sentence report on Demmon thought it was plausible that the carrying of a knife was for his own protection and to 'gain kudos' rather than to use it.

Passing sentence on Demmon, Mr Justice Chamberlain said "Joshua was 17 years old. He had a six year old brother. Josh was studying creative media and had good prospects of a successful career in that field.

“Those who knew him say he was a kind, intelligent, charming and charismatic young man. Think of the happiness he could have enjoyed and given others as an adult."

The judge spoke of the 'testament to Kirsty and Michael's love or their son and his love for them and for his little brother."

He went on "You had a good relationship with your mother, father, sister and brother and wider family. You were fortunate to have a close and supportive family.

"You were not happy at school and were excluded on eight occasions, four of which were for violence.

"At your trial we saw a video recorded on a mobile phone of you as part of a group assaulting and humiliating another boy.

"For several months before 16 April 2021 you had been carrying a knife when you went out.

"You said that this was because you were afraid of a local drug dealer and because other groups of boys had knives.

"This may have been part of the reason.

"Another was that carrying a knife made you feel like a big and powerful man.

"You talked to your peers using messaging apps including Snapchat. You pretended to be fearless when in fact you were deeply insecure. You adopted the personas of hardened and fearless criminals.

"Perceived slights to honour or status were met by promises of violence.

"You said that Josh had made a crude sexual remark about your sister in a telephone call but you couldn’t really understand what was said because there were about three people shouting at the other end.

"I do not accept that Josh ever made that remark.

"You seem to have believed that he did.

"You let it be known that you and Josh had a disagreement to sort out.

"At your instigation you and Josh agreed to meet at a sports field in Cam known as Cam Bulldogs after one of the teams that played there. You and he both expected there to be a fight.

"We heard evidence, which I accept as consistent with the other evidence, that another boy sent you a message asking if you were going to take a 'ting', by which you meant a knife, and you replied that you might just in case.

"Even if it had not been for the evidence I would have been sure that when you left home on 16th April with a knife in the waistband of your joggers you knew it was there and intended to have it available to use as a weapon against Josh if necessary.

"You arrived at Cam Bulldogs with two friends at 1:18 in the afternoon. Josh was there with two friends.

"In your initial police statement you said that as you approached him Josh had made the crude sexual remark about your sister that I have already mentioned.

"You have since accepted that this was untrue and claimed you were confused. In reality there was no confusion. What you said was a deliberate lie to bolster your false case that Josh was the aggressor and you were merely defending yourself.

"You and Josh began pushing and pulling each other and swinging punches. You drew the knife you had been carrying and deliberately stabbed Josh at least four times."

The judge concluded "For the murder of Joshua Hall I sentence you to be detained during Her Majesty's Pleasure. The minimum term will be fourteen years, less the period of 291 days you have served in detention before trial and while awaiting sentence.

"After you have served the minimum term you will be released when the Parole Board decides that it is safe to do so. You will then remain on licence for the rest of your life ad will be liable to recall if you commit any further offence or breach the conditions of your licence."