Aria Thorpe: Teenager goes on trial accused of murdering girl, nine, whose dad is from Portsmouth

Fresh pictures of a nine-year-old who was stabbed to death at her home have been released ahead of a trial of her alleged murderer.

Aria Thorpe died from a single stab wound at her home in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, on 15 December last year. Her dad lives in Portsmouth.

A 16-year-old boy, who can not be named because of his age, has been charged with her murder and is on trial at Bristol Crown Court.

Ahead of the trial, Avon and Somerset Police said Aria's family have "deliberately" selected six photos they wanted to be "associated" with her throughout the proceedings.

They include images of her on a trip to London in front of Big Ben, feeding some birds, at her birthday party and enjoying the outdoors.

Ahead of the trial, the family of Aria have also released statements in tribute.

Aria's family on her mother's side, said: "For those who didn’t have the privilege of knowing Aria, she was the most beautiful little soul — happy-go-lucky, full of light, and joy.

"She loved to sing and dance, and she took such pride in dressing up, always wanting to look just like her mummy. The loss of Aria has devastated us beyond words. Our hearts are broken in a way we never imagined possible. As a family, we are holding one another close and doing everything we can to support each other through this unimaginable time.

"We are truly touched by the lovely messages we have received from friends and the local community over recent days. It has meant an awful lot to us all.

"We politely ask that our privacy is respected, as we try to come to terms with the terrible loss of our precious girl."

Aria's father, Tom Thorpe, said: "It's hard to put into words how devastating it is, our little Aria, that you're up there with the angels looking over us. How sad it's going to be not hearing ‘Dad, how long left?’ on our long journeys back and forth at weekends.

"How I'll long to hear you asking me to test you with maths, 'numbers' as you called it, to entertain you when you get bored with the iPad. How sad it's going to be not making your buttery crackers, grapes and a yoghurt for your breakfast.

"You were such a brave, kind-hearted and a beautiful innocent soul. You always put a smile on people's faces with your wacky ways and just outright madness. You always found it so easy to show your affection to others and ensure others around you were happy and never bored!

"I'll never ever forget our time in Disneyland as a family; seeing your face light up when we were watching the princess show was a picture that will last forever in our minds.

"Your other little family down here in Portsmouth will forever miss you. We’ll miss you begging to go outside, even in the pouring rain just to have as much fun as possible in the little time we had at weekends.

"You will be greatly missed, you special little angel. A life gone far too early but I hope a life lived well. We all love you dearly. Goodnight darling."

Boy on trial for Aria Thorpe’s murder

The trial, which is expected to last two weeks, has heard that a group of children thought a teenage boy was joking when he allegedly told them he had fatally stabbed Aria.

After leaving the house, he was said to have walked to a nearby railway station where he told young people gathered there that he had stabbed a child, Bristol Crown Court was told.

A 12-year-old girl told the jury she was with a group of friends on the railway platform when the defendant came up to them to ask what time the next train was.

“He was in a rush,” she said. “He was sitting there looking at the time on the board and he asked if he could borrow a phone to search something, then he gave it back.”

The girl said the defendant told her Aria “ran into the knife” and he got his coat and left.

“He asked people to check how fast his heart was beating. His hand was shaking like he had actually done it,” she told the court.

The witness told the jury that one of her friends jokingly asked the defendant if he had killed Aria. He smiled and didn’t deny, but didn’t say yeah. Everybody thought he was joking,” she said.

“So he left her on the floor. I can’t remember if he said he had called an ambulance, but he left his phone and took his coat and ran out of the door.”

Another one of the group told the jury he had let the defendant borrow his phone to do the internet search, which was later discovered to be “What happens if you kill…”

“He asked to borrow someone’s phone, he searched my phone and I was left talking to the others and then he said, ‘I killed her’,” the boy said.

“He wasn’t like sad, almost normal.”

The court earlier heard a family friend who discovered Aria fatally injured thought she was “messing around”.

Ollie Sheppard described seeing her lying face down in the lounge of her home and thought she was playing so called out her name.

Ray Tully KC, prosecuting, asked: “What was your first thought when you saw her on the floor?”

Mr Sheppard replied: “She was messing around. I called her name, Aria, and pretty much I had put two and two together and I saw blood on her arm. My first instinct was to ring her mother. She didn’t answer because she was at work, so I left her a note she needed to contact me asap and then I called 999.”

Neighbour Shalyna Chaplain told the jury she was feeding her toddler son and they were watching the TV together when she heard shouting coming from next door shortly before 6pm.

“It was like two people shouting who were upset, rather than two people shouting at each other who were aggressive,” she said.

Andrew Langdon KC, defending the teenager, suggested what she had in fact heard was a single male voice.

“It was probably difficult for you with the TV on. There wasn’t two male voices, but it was one, just shortly before the flashing lights arrived outside?” he asked.

She replied: “It did sound like someone was talking to another person. At the time I was fairly certain it was two voices.”

The teenager denies charges of murder and manslaughter. The trial before Mrs Justice O’Farrell continues.