Reading stabbing: Boy tells court he wanted 'fist fight'

A boy charged with stabbing a 13-year-old to death has told a court his messages and "street talk" about knives were just him "bigging himself up".

Oliver Stephens, known as Olly, was pronounced dead at Bugs Bottom fields in Emmer Green, Reading, on 3 January.

Giving evidence at Reading Crown Court, the boy said his messages, played to the jury, were "stupid and childish".

Two boys, both 14, deny murder. A girl, also 14, and one of the boys, have pleaded guilty to manslaughter.

None of them can be identified for legal reasons.

The court previously heard Olly had been "lured" to a park by a girl and "ambushed" by two teenage boys, who were "motivated by perceived grievances" against him.

The alleged attackers were said to have left Olly with stab wounds to the chest and back after a short scuffle.

One of the accused boys has already given evidence in court.

On Wednesday, the second boy told the court his voice message exchanges, retrieved from mobile phones, in which he talked about knives and "poking" and "stabbing" people, were "just to make an image of myself and big myself up" to other people.

He told Rossano Scamardella QC, defending, he felt guilty and remorseful for "having a part in his [Olly's] death".

He admitted that he had intended to confront Olly, saying: "I wanted to fight him one on one... a fist fight."

He said that he threw the first punch, but claimed Olly had been getting the better of him and had knocked him over.

The boy said the other defendant then "completely lost it, started going red and was a bit shaky" before "he ran towards Olly and stabbed him".

He said his co-defendant "froze looking at the knife" and "then he stabbed him again".

The 14-year-old told the hearing he then went into Reading to meet friends and threw his gloves away "because I thought they had blood on them from Olly".

He added: "I was panicked and shocked."

The boy told how he later met up with his co-defendant again, who he said asked him to burn the clothes he had been wearing at the time of the killing, but said another boy threw them on the railway track.

The trial continues.

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