Alfie Lewis heard to say 'chill out' before being stabbed through the heart on Leeds street, court told

The 15-year-old died from catastrophic internal bleeding after the bloody assault on the afternoon of November 7 last year, at the junction of Church Lane and Church Road in Horsforth.

The 15-year-old accused, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is on trial at Leeds Crown Court. He accepts having the 13-cm-long knife and killing Alfie, but denies murdering him, claiming it was self defence.

The horrific incident happened in front of scores of young pupils leaving the nearby primary school and their parents on the school run. Alfie suffered three wounds - one to his face, one to his thigh, and the fatal blow which punctured his heart.

Opening the case this afternoon for the prosecution, Craig Hassall said Alfie had been on his way to meet friends at around 3pm that day when the boy approached him and began attacking him with the blade. Alfie was heard to tell the defendant to “chill out” before being struck with the fatal blow.

Bystanders said they witnessed the boy approach Alfie and attack him without provocation, Mr Hassall said. One said Alfie was “walking backwards” away from the defendant. Another said she did not see Alfie “raise a fist”. After delivering the blows, the defendant then fled the scene as shocked bystanders came to Alfie’s aid.

Mr Hassall told the jury: “You will hear evidence from each of those witnesses during the course of the trial. Of course, they each saw the incident during which Alfie Lewis was stabbed each from their own individual viewpoint.

“None of them will have seen, could have seen, exactly the same part of the incident from exactly the same direction. All of the witnesses are consistent however in that none of them suggest that Alfie was in any way the aggressor.”

Mr Hassall said the knife was dropped on the roadside near to the primary school. The boy was arrested just half an hour later. Meanwhile Alfie was taken by ambulance to Leeds General Infirmary where attempts to resuscitate him continued until 4pm, when he was declared dead.

A forensic pathologist identified three knife wounds to Alfie’s body. The first was an incised wound to Alfie’s jawline, the second was the fatal 14cm-deep stab wound to Alfie’s chest, and the third to his thigh. It was thought that the wound to the jaw could have been caused by the same blow of the knife, catching Alfie’s jaw as the blade moved towards his chest.

The knife found was forensically examined and found to contain Alfie’s DNA. Clothing from the defendant was later seized and also contained Alfie’s blood. The knife used also matched a set of knives the boy had at home.

Sign up today and get the latest headlines delivered straight to your inbox, with the YEP’s free newsletter

Mr Hassall said the handle had been painted black and that he had “carried it around all day”.

Mr Hassall said: “The prosecution says therefore that he had clearly engaged in some planning. He had taken a knife from the kitchen drawer at home, painted the handle of it black and then taken it with him, expecting that he would see Alfie.”

Mr Hassall said Alfie and the accused were involved in a previous violent incident in July 2023. It had begun as a fight between the defendant and another boy, but Alfie became involved.

The last time that Alfie and the defendant had seen each other, before the day of his death, was on October 31 when the boy is said to have thrown a lit firework at Alfie.

Alfie had run away from the firework but once it had gone off, he approached the boy and took the rest of his fireworks from him.

A bench on Broadgate Lane, close to where Alfie lived, was covered in floral tributes to the teenager in the days after his death.

Alfie was a former pupil of Horsforth School. Head Paul Bell said the school has been “overwhelmed by the kindness and support offered to us following the tragic loss of one of our former students”.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak even spoke out and described the incident as “awful” and said his “heart goes out to the family”. The trial continues and is expected to last between two and three weeks.