Katie Rough’s teen killer clutches soft toy as she’s jailed for LIFE after smothering seven-year-old with glove and slashing her neck with Stanley knife.
Katie Rough died after she was smothered by the 16-year-old girl, who cannot be named and was 15 at the time, and then slashed with a Stanley knife in a park in York, in January.
The defendant, who admitted manslaughter due to diminished responsibility at a previous hearing, appeared by video-link at Leeds Crown Court as Katie’s family looked on from the jury box.
Katie was found with severe lacerations to her neck and chest on a playing field in York in January and did not respond to frantic attempts to revive her.
But a judge heard earlier this year that she actually died from being smothered by her attacker, who cannot be named for legal reasons.
The teenager sat with her head down, clutching a soft toy, throughout the hearing.
She was flanked on screen by a court usher and a youth team leader who confirmed the girl’s name when she was asked to identify herself by the judge, Mr Justice Soole.
The judge told her: “The gravity of the offence of killing a small child speaks for itself.”
He said: “The level of danger to the public is high.
“In the circumstances of your continuing silence, the critical question is whether there is any reliable estimate as to how long that danger will continue.”
