Chilling CCTV footage has captured the moment an 18-year-old woman pleaded with her grandad not to call 999 moments after she fatally stabbed a 16-year-old love rival, saying: 'You can't ring the police – she's dead.'
Kayla Smith repeatedly stabbed Chloe Watson Dransfield in the street during an arranged fight over Blake Dowling, 18, with whom both girls had been in on-off relationships. The attack took place outside Smith's grandad's home in Austhorpe, Leeds, in the early hours of March 28 this year.
Footage shows teenager approaching with knife
Footage played to jurors at Leeds Crown Court shows Smith 'striding quickly' from the summer house where she was living, clutching a knife, followed by her friend Archie Rycroft. Ring doorbell footage captured her shouting 'come on, big girl' as she approached Chloe, adding: 'Come on then, I will stab you.'
While the murder itself was not recorded, jurors were told a male could be heard laughing. Seconds later, Smith and Rycroft are filmed running back to the summer house. About a minute after the attack – in which Chloe was stabbed five times to the neck and back – Smith can be heard pleading with her grandad not to call 999.
Grandad called ambulance 37 minutes after stabbing
Geoff Smith is heard saying 'I'm ringing the police' and Smith replies: 'You can't ring the police – she's dead.' He called for an ambulance 37 minutes after the stabbing and was seen by a neighbour performing CPR on Chloe on the footpath. The court heard Chloe was taken to hospital by ambulance but was declared dead at 6.40am, around 90 minutes after being stabbed.
Smith had gone on trial alongside Dowling and Rycroft charged with Chloe's murder, but she changed her plea to guilty after Mark McKone KC began opening the prosecution case earlier this week. The two men deny murder and manslaughter.
Threats made in lead-up to the fight
Dowling's mum said Smith had become 'jealous and obsessed' over his relationship with Chloe, the court heard. Mr McKone said that during the night and early morning leading up to the fight, Dowling was with Chloe at his mother's house but had been in contact with Smith, who made repeated threats over the phone to stab Chloe.
A friend of Chloe's who was on FaceTime with her that night said she heard Dowling answering his phone and heard Smith screaming: 'Blake I'm gonna smash your head in… you better not be with no girls… Chloe better not be there.' When Chloe said that she was there, the witness heard Smith say: 'I'm gonna stab you in your throat.' Chloe's friend said Smith had threatened to stab Chloe before, and that Chloe would laugh and not take the threats seriously.
Giving evidence on Thursday, the witness said that as Chloe was on the way to Smith's house, she told her she was 'off to get the fight that I've wanted for ages'. Asked by Gill Batts KC, defending Dowling, what she thought the fight would entail, the witness said: 'Just themselves, nothing else,' later clarifying she meant that there would be no weapons.
Two men deny involvement
Dowling booked a taxi to take Chloe to Smith's home in Austhorpe. Mr McKone told jurors Dowling 'played a part in organising the violence' that followed. The prosecutor said: 'Blake Dowling assisted and encouraged Kayla Smith to be violent to (Chloe) by taking (her) to the scene for the specific purpose of a fight.' He told jurors Rycroft 'deliberately encouraged Kayla Smith to be violent by walking with (her) to the fight, and by trying to film (her) using violence and by providing support if needed'.
When police arrested Smith and Rycroft, they were 'laughing and joking' with two of their friends and using nitrous oxide in front of officers, Mr McKone said. He told jurors Dowling denied knowing that Chloe would be caused really serious harm, while Rycroft said he followed Smith out of curiosity and did not see that she had a knife.
The judge, Mr Justice Cavanagh KC, said he would sentence Smith once the trial was over. He warned her that the only sentence he could pass for murder was life imprisonment, but that he would need to set the minimum term she must spend in custody. The trial continues.
