"Inspired" by Southport killings: Man found guilty of stabbing nine-year-old girl

A 29-year-old man who was obsessed with child murders and felt ‘inspired’ by the Southport attacks stabbed a nine-year-old girl in the neck as she played outside.

Jordan Wilkes watched YouTube videos and podcasts on crimes involving the killing of children before stabbing the girl as she played outside his home in August.

These included the killing of the three girls at a dance class in Southport last year, the murder of James Bulger and several American high school massacres.

Hours before the attack he watched a video on Aiden Fucci who murdered a 13-year-old American schoolgirl by stabbing her 114 times.

Just three weeks after the Southport killings, Wilkes’ victim had been playing with a friend on the stairwell outside his flat in Christchurch, Dorset.

Fuelled by thoughts of ‘fulfulling a sick fantasy’ he opened his door and stabbed the girl three times in the neck, shoulder and knee with a pen knife without saying a word.

He was ‘fulfilling a sick fantasy’ when he launched the attack (Picture: BNPS)

Wilkes was arrested by armed police who raided his flat a short time after the attack (Picture: BNPS)

She and her friend managed to flee to the safety of another flat, but the wounds to the girl’s shoulder and knee were so deep the bone could be seen.

She was able to make a full recovery.

Wilkes was arrested by armed police who raided his flat a short time after the attack.

Police also recovered a clump of the girl’s hair which Wilkes either ‘cut as a trophy’ or wrenched from her scalp in an attempt to keep hold of her while he was attacking her.

He denied a charge of attempting to murder the girl, who can’t be named for legal reasons, but was found guilty following a trial at Bournemouth Crown Court.

Wilkes was ‘inspired’ by the Southport killings which left three girls dead (Picture: Merseyside Police/PA Wire)

The girl was able to make a full recovery (Picture: Bournemouth Echo/BNPS)

Berenice Mulvanny, prosecuting, said Wilkes had an ‘unhealthy fascination with the murder of children and saw his opportunity to fulfil some sort of sick fantasy.’

She said: ‘She was just playing with a friend on the stairwell outside the flat this defendant lived in with his mother.

‘He came out of the flat. He didn’t say anything, but grabbed hold of her arm then struck her with the knife three times, once to the top of the neck by the jaw line, once to the shoulder and once to the side of her knee.’

Giving evidence, the girl said of the attack: ‘I saw him reach into his pocket, I didn’t know that it was a knife, he hid it with his arm behind him then he came at us.

‘He came running at me with a straight face. He grabbed hold of my arm, really tight, so I couldn’t escape and he was aiming for this area [pointing to her neck].’

Her friend described Wilkes as ‘mad-looking’.

He will be sentenced in April (Picture: BNPS)

His mobile phone was recovered which revealed a ‘particularly concerning’ search history.

The data downloaded from his Motorola mobile phone showed 69 ‘files of interest’ related to violence, knives and child killings in the three months before the attack.

The news articles, YouTube videos, documentaries and podcasts had content relating to the Valentine’s School Massacre, America’s deadliest mass shooting with 17 killed at Parkland High School in Florida in 2018,.

Ms Mulvanny said: ‘What was found on that phone show an unhealthy interest in violence, in knives, but in particular the murder of children.

‘There were searches and videos watched regarding the Valentine School Massacres in America, child serial killers, abuse of children, the murder of James Bulger and the riots that resulted in Southport after the murder of three girls. The Southport murders taking place in July, the attack on [the nine-year-old] weeks later.’

The woman in the flat the two girls ran to said she heard screaming and banging on the door but once inside both girls were ‘alarmingly composed’, as if in a state of shock.

While treating the girl’s neck injury, the woman became aware of blood dripping on the floor and then saw a large wound to the chest.

She said: ‘As I moved her top I saw a huge gash to her shoulder, I could see down to the bone. It was long and wide like it had been pulled open or ripped.’

Forensic pathologist Dr Richard Shepherd told the court the girl had a 2cm long neck wound and an 8cm gash above her collarbone.

He said the chest wound was deep and would have likely resulted in serious injury or death if it had damaged any of the underlying area.

Wilkes will be sentenced in April.

Sophia Martinez