Cannot believe that a 7 year old girl has been stabbed to death.

[MycatsaPirate]

Katie, aged 7 was stabbed to death in the street.

I know someone has been arrested (and that's not for discussion)

I just feel so horrendously sad for this little girls family. 7 years old and such a brutal death.

Heartbreaking.

Christ, that article!

Happy if someone with more legal expertise comes on to correct me but 'contempt of court' only applies if a presiding magistrate or judge rules that individuals cannot be named or identified during proceedings. This has not happened in this case yet.

And as for prejudice, the relationship between the victim and alleged perpetrator, if as reported, will be common knowledge to all parties and will inform both prosecution and defence arguments.

Nobody gets away with a crime because some randoms accused them on FB or discussed it on a forum and 'prejudiced' it. The CPS will present their case and evidence and the defence theirs. Both cases will be based on evidence, not what Stinky Steve on FB posted who lives 250 miles away.

Nightowl

Do you always make assumptions?

I posted this because it's in the news. It is horrific. I think people will express their horror over it. This is not the only thread about it. This is being discussed on websites all across the internet.

I said in my op that this shouldn't be used as a platform to discuss criminal proceedings. About halfway through it's completely disintegrated into people arguing over semantics. Posting links to sites which state who the arrested person was (albeit unintentionally). We can all google and find this information out if we so wish to.

I don't appreciate being accused of seeking attention through the death of a 7 year old child. In fact, that accusation says more about you than me.

The reality is people are discussing this in real life.

At work today it was mentioned many times.

I don't see why discussing it on an Internet forum - as long as it's confined to publicly available information - is any different.

Speculation on the "whys" is different.j

The death of any child is tragic. When encountering circumstances such as this, where another child is involved is any parents nightmare - perpetrator or victim.

I can't understand why the knife was ebven being 'carried' around in the first place. Makes it sound almost pre meditated

Thoughts are with the family tonight

It's now being reported that the girl under arrest can't be identified for legal reasons.

So MNHQ made a good call.

So reporting restrictions are obviously now in place.

So very, very sad.

15 year old girl has been formally charged with murder.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-york-north-yorkshire-38579407

Happy if someone with more legal expertise comes on to correct me but 'contempt of court' only applies if a presiding magistrate or judge rules that individuals cannot be named or identified during proceedings. This has not happened in this case yet.

No, it applies once someone has been charged.

This is very close to home for me. I worked in the school where her siblings/family went. I just want to gather them all up and hold them tight.

Been announced that 15yo cannot be identified.

And that she will appear in front of magistrates this morning.

Must be very upsetting for you Pugalugs . Have a quick hug from me ((())) while no one's looking.

pug I am also sending a hug.

Rest in peace poor little one. Feel so sad and shocked for her loved ones and community.

It's worrying that 15 year olds are capable. There was the case last year with 2 as well

And I worry more because I've seen my own 15 year old go trough a stage where she was capable of this. She's an adult now and has no issues, but for a while she was off the rails

when I expressed something similar I was deleted...strange

It's very strange that you get deleted if you talk about the girl that's been charged with it yet there is a fucking horrible thread still standing with disrespectful posts attracking how pretty she was.

What the fuck is up with this place

It's very strange that you get deleted if you talk about the girl that's been charged with it yet there is a fucking horrible thread still standing with disrespectful posts attracking how pretty she was.

One is a legal issue, especially now there are charges, one isn't.

I agree that the other thread is awful though.

The intention of the other thread was to discuss reporting standards and a dreadful blunder by a main-channel reporter.

And I thought it was fairly unanimous that whether pretty or not, it is a dreadful thing when children are murdered.

I missed the thread you are talking about (I assume it's now deleted). What reporting blunder happened?

Horrible isn't it, I haven't stopped thinking about it since last night. Glad someone has posted a thread about it as for some (like me) it plays on my mind and having others feel similar is comforting.

I am amazed Mumsnet is allowing this thread to remain active given the court hearing this morning. As someone who works in the legal profession, I can categorically state that once a person has been arrested and charged proceedings become active and any reporting is restricted by the Magistrates Court Act. That means any speculation about a relationship between the victim and accused on a public forum could prejudiced future proceedings and be considered contempt of court. If I were you OP, I'd it take down pronto, because you started it.

If HQ decide to take it down, fair enough. But I'm not going to be asking them to.

I said in my op that the person who was arrested was not up for discussion because I know that it's not right to discuss that when proceedings need to take place. It's not me endlessly discussing the girl.

Feel free to report though.

I have seen more pictures of Katie this morning, a bridesmaid at her mums wedding just two weeks ago. She looked so beautiful. My heart goes out to her parents.

Chunky, Contempt of Court applies to all legal proceedings.
It kicks in at the point the defendant is charged and the risk ends at the conclusion of a trial or a guilty plea.
There are certain things that can be reported within that timescale, but those are bound by the Contempt of Court Act and are mostly matters which are said in open court. They have to be 'fair, accurate and contemporaneous'. That's why journalists still use shorthand.
In this case there's the added complication that the defendant is a child, so there will be orders banning anything that leads to her identity - including any relationship to the victim.
It's a very sad case. But in terms of what can and can't be discussed in public, there you have it. I am absolutely certain the press will report everything they are legally allowed to in this case as it progresses.

The first thing I read about this yesterday (on the Metro newspaper website) definitely said who was in custody (not actually naming her)
Today it's just "a15 year old"