A teenage boy fatally stabbed a 16-year-old boy with no words and no hesitation, a court has heard. A 16-year-old boy is on trial at Hove Crown Court charged with the murder of Joshua Ingram, who was stabbed at Seaford railway station in East Sussex on September 10, 2025. The defendant has pleaded guilty to an alternative charge of manslaughter.
Witness describes calm attacker
Joshua had been at the train station with a friend, who gave evidence on Wednesday describing how he was tapped on the shoulder by the teenager accused of murder. The friend, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said the defendant asked, “Is that Josh?” before stepping ahead of him, pulling a knife from his right hip, and “went for it twice” then ran.
When the friend saw the defendant reach for an “army knife” with a black handle, he screamed “Josh!” the court heard. In a recorded police interview played to jurors, the friend told officers: “Josh turned round, by the time he turned round he got stabbed.”
Asked about the defendant, he said: “He had no hesitation, he had a very still facial expression, he wasn’t pulling a face, he didn’t look like he had anger in him. He looked very calm and just normal but then just did that.”
Victim unaware of attack
The friend recalled seeing Joshua walk a couple of steps and then “dropped to the floor” as he asked Siri to call 999. “I was so in shock I didn’t know what to do,” he said. Asked if Joshua said anything to the attacker, he added: “I don’t think Josh even knew what had happened.”
Before the stabbing, the teenager said he was walking with Joshua to the train station and Joshua said: “Is that [the defendant], I owe him £20.” But the friend said: “He didn’t say it in a worrying way. He said it in a normal tone, not thinking he was going to get stabbed, thinking [the defendant] was going to come up and say ‘where’s my money?’”
Conspiracy charges and Snapchat messages
The 16-year-old defendant is also accused, along with two youths aged 17 and 15, of conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm with intent. The 15-year-old is also on trial charged with assisting an offender, which the 17-year-old has pleaded guilty to. The prosecution allege the trio “plotted and planned” the stabbing attack over an unpaid £20 cannabis debt.
Snapchat messages from the months before were read in court. In one message, the teenager accused of murder said: “Josh will perish if I don’t get my f****** money, that’s a fact and he knows this. I'm ready to sit in a prison cell for 30 years over a £20 sheet.”
Defence argues intent disputed
Addressing the jury after the prosecution opening, Colin Aylott KC, the 16-year-old defendant’s lawyer, said the principle issue between the prosecution and defence case is one of intent. The youth has pleaded guilty to manslaughter but the prosecution asserts he is guilty of murder, alleging he intended to cause “really serious harm”. The defence said their case is that the 16-year-old only intended to cause “some harm”.
He said: “The defence will assert a mix of fantasy, hyped-up teen exaggeration or the straight-out lies of an immature young man trying to impress his friends.” The defence also disputes all the messages specifically relate to Joshua in the case. Counsel for the 15-year-old defendant also urged the jury to consider whether the messages amounted to “bravado” rather than a “definite agreement” and to view them in their proper context. The trial continues.
