HORSFORTH MURDER: Boy, 15, found guilty of murdering Alfie Lewis

Alfie Lewis, 15, was stabbed to death “in full view” of pupils leaving a primary school in Horsforth last November.

A schoolboy, who was 14 at the time, admitted stabbing Alfie with a 13cm-long kitchen knife he had brought from home but denied murder, claiming he was scared for his life when he pulled out the weapon.

On Friday, a jury of five men and seven women at Leeds Crown Court convicted him of the offence.

Sobs were heard from Alfie’s family in the public gallery, who hugged each other as the verdict was announced. Most were wearing T-shirts with pictures of Alfie, saying “Forever 15”.

Police at the scene in Horsforth (Image: PA)

The defendant showed no visible emotion and later held hands with his parents through a gap in the dock glass before being taken away.

The judge, Mr Justice Cotter, will sentence the youth on June 21.

He told the defendant: “You have been found guilty of murder. There is only one sentence I can pass. What I have to determine is how many years you will be detained before you are able to be released.”

Opening the case to jurors last week, prosecutor Craig Hassall KC said Alfie had been walking down the street to meet friends at the end of the school day when the defendant attacked him.

Police at the scene and (inset) Alfie Lewis (Image: West Yorkshire Police)

He said witnesses recalled Alfie looking “surprised and shocked” and saying to the defendant: “What are you doing?” as the incident unfolded close to St Margaret’s Primary School in Town Street, Horsforth, just before 3pm on November 7 2023.

The prosecutor said: “Alfie did not get as far as meeting any of his friends that day.

“He was approached by (the defendant), and stabbed twice – once in the chest and once in the leg.

“He collapsed and died in the road close to the primary school in full view of scores of pupils leaving school and the people who were waiting to collect them.”

The prosecutor said a post-mortem examination revealed that the fatal stab injury was a 14cm deep wound to Alfie’s chest which punctured his heart.

Mr Hassall told the jury at Leeds Crown Court: “(The defendant) then fled the scene, dropping the murder weapon in the road close to the primary school.”

Police activity in Horsforth, Leeds, after the incident in November Police activity in Horsforth, Leeds, after the incident in November (Danny Lawson/PA) He said all the witnesses were “consistent” in saying that Alfie was “not the aggressor” that day.

“Several of the witnesses speak of Alfie seeming surprised and shocked at what (the defendant) was doing,” Mr Hassall told the court.

“Several of them recall hearing Alfie ask of (the defendant): ‘What are you doing?’ “None of the witnesses heard Alfie shouting at or threatening (the defendant).

“Insofar as any of the witnesses saw Alfie doing anything towards (the defendant), they describe him trying in vain to defend himself from (the defendant’s) knife.”

The defendant, who cannot be named, told the jury he was scared of Alfie following two incidents in the months before.

The latter of these happened on Halloween when, according to the teenager, he walked past Alfie’s house with a bag of fireworks and Alfie said to him: “Give me the bag or something worse than last time is going to happen.”

The defendant said that, when he returned to school after a half-term break, he decided to take a knife from the kitchen drawer to protect himself.

Describing the incident on November 7, he told the jury he aimlessly swung the knife to keep Alfie away, adding: “I was just trying to protect my own life.”