A killer chucked the knife he used to stab a teenager to death in a Wiltshire lake.
At Bristol Crown Court today (Tuesday), Joshua Delbono was found guilty of murdering 16-year-old Charley Bates in a car park off The Street, Radstock, in July last year.
The 19-year-old repeatedly stabbed the victim – hitting him in the chest and arm. A pathologist told the court that the arm injury was consistent with him trying to defend himself.
Juror’s heard how told two cars arrived in the car park – one of which Delbono was in – at about 6.40pm. Charley is said to have approached the other car and a confrontation occurred involving him and the people who were in that vehicle.
Delbono saw what was happening and after getting out of the car he was in, went up to the group and stabbed Charley multiple times with a knife he brought to the scene.
Delbono quickly left the scene and travelled about half an hour away to Shearwater Lake where he burned clothes he had been wearing. This was captured on a mobile phone, police later discovered.
At about 12.45am the following morning, approximately six hours after Charley had been stabbed, police received a phone call from Delbono’s mother in which she told police her son ‘had killed someone’ and she was keeping him at the address. She told the call handler she felt ‘sick’ by what had happened.
She then passed the phone to Delbono who admitted to stabbing Charley, claiming he was trying to protect others.
Delbono, from Frome, went on to falsely claim he had thrown the knife away at the scene and it may have ended up under a car, however conceded during the trial he had thrown it into Shearwater Lake.
DCI Mark Almond said: “Our thoughts and sympathies remain with Charley’s family who have experienced unimaginable pain over the past nine months. They continue to grieve for Charley and we are offering them support through our specially-trained officers.
“Charley had his whole life ahead of him and it was cut short by Joshua Delbono. The vigil held in his memory in Radstock in the days after this senseless tragedy highlights how his death affected the community and how popular a person he was.
“Such incidents are thankfully rare in Radstock, but the devastating consequences knife crime has on families and communities is clear for all to see and it is why we are committed to work with our partners to do all that we can to prevent more tragedies like this from happening.”
Delbono was handed a life sentence and must serve a minimum of 21 years in prison.
